Thanks to a resurgence in the Classic Metal of the NWOBHM, we’ve been blessed to hear a lot of great from new bands as well as from groups who were actually around during the late 70’s and early 80’s when the biggest movement of Heavy Metal began.
WARDRESS were formed in Germany around 1983, so they essentially grew up and were heavily influenced by the NWOBHM. So “Metal Til’ The End” is authentic Metal from guys who were in the middle of it.
In 2019 they put out “Dress For War” that actually featured songs from their early days. During the pandemic they worked on “Metal Til’ The End”. They obviously kept busy over the years as they sound tight, fresh and ready to blow the doors off some auditoriums.
I love the story so much about these guys reforming decades later that I find it hard to critical about anything they’re doing. There isn’t really a weak track on the album, but I lean towards the title track, ‘Serves You Right’, ‘Berserk’ and ‘Metal Melodies’.
If I had to compare them to a specific band, you could compare Blaze Bayley and Erich have similar vocal styles. Musically they’re not re-inventing the wheel and that’s why I love this album, it’s old-school, no apologies. It’s got some Priest, Accept even some Raven in the mix.
They had the album produced by Rolf Munkes so the quality is fantastic. It’s heavy, lots of bass, thundering drums, heavy guitars and a surprising amount of aggression for guys who could be retiring soon.
I’m going to give this 7 out of 10 “Flaming Fists” as they only lose some point because it’s relatively short at 8 songs. The great cover of Ozzy’s “Mr. Crowley” was a nice surprise. It’s certainly worth picking up, it’s almost like a collector’s item in my opinion as these guys were around to see Metal take over the world in the early 80’s. Well done gentlemen, hopefully there’s more bullets in the chamber!!
WARDRESS BIO:
Wardress were originally formed in Nürtingen in 1983 and have been dedicated to 80s NWOBHM ever since, but failed to cement their status with an album release in their early years. It took a quasi-re-formation in 2018 when guitarist Gor and vocalist Erich decided to finally put some recovered original song material from the band’s early days on record. So in 2019 they finally released their debut “Dress For War” (2019) on which old songs as well as current material were immortalised.
The band used the time of the pandemic measures to work on their second album “Metal Til The End”, on which the band remains stylistically true to their roots and at the same time makes the album title the programme! Sawing riffs with surprising breaks and anthemic melodies alternating with exploding solos, complemented by bitingly ironic lyrics. Production and mix, for which Rolf Munkes is responsible in the Empire Studio in Bensheim, provides a dynamic live-like atmosphere.
