Blitzkrieg – Judge Not

The NWOBHM movement throws up so many influencing bands, one of whom is Blitzkrieg, formed in 1980 with original vocalist Brian Ross still remaining. His haunting croon can be heard on their latest studio album Judge Not, released on Mighty Music on April 27th 2018 and will be celebrated by a launch party at Think Tank in Newcastle Upon Tyne that day.

Hot on the heels of their 2017 Reign In Fire EP, it races out of the starting blocks (following the brief instrumental opener ‘Heretic’) with ‘Who Is Blind?’, as the dominating drums of Matt Graham blast away over the snapping, snarling riffing from Ken Johnson and Alan Ross as Brian delivers his first operatic vocal. ‘Forever Is A Long Time’ sees Matt taking the reigns again as he pounds along to melodies that bring to mind ‘Master Of Puppets’ as a dramatic spoken word piece gives way to a full on finish of double bass drumming and vocal histrionics.

Personal highlight for me is ‘Reign Of Fire’, it captivates with intense, catchy riffing and a melodic lead vocal. ‘All Hell Is Breaking Loose’ lives up to it’s title as bass heavy lumbering grooves from Huw Holding and a tasty melodic guitar solo midway precedes banshee like screams to finish on. ‘Angels Or Demons’ grabs you from the off and does not let go as caustic riffing provides the foil to ear splitting screams and air guitars will be out when the leads come in. Another aptly named song is ‘Loud And Proud’ that has a staple NWOBHM tinged main riff. Brian dominates here as he grabs old song titles and cliches out of the air and the icing on the cake are the huge choruses.

‘Wide Legged And Headless’ (a wordplay on the Andy Fairweather Low hit ‘Wide Eyed And Legless’?)is a sure fire rock radio number full of catchy riffing, furious fretboard flurries and Matt racing around his kit in full on Animal from the Muppet Show mode. ‘Without You’ is another commercially tinged ditty with touches of ‘Crazy Nights’ in the main riff, a nice little curveball of a song that sees Alan Ross providing lead vocals. ‘Falling Into Darkness’ is a cloak of doomy riffing that wraps itself around you for its seven minute duration. The mournful vocals and haunting guitar melody outro make it truly epic. The album finishes with the metal overload of ‘Judge Not Lest You Yourself Be Judged’, it’s nothing short of a foot to the floor rampager that takes no prisoners.

The album will be available on CD, vinyl, limited edition coloured vinyl and digital download.

Judge Not album track listing :-

Heretic.

Who Is Blind?

Forever Is A Long Time.

Reign Of Fire.

All Hell Is Breaking Loose.

Angels Or Demons.

Loud And Proud.

Without You.

Wide Legged And Headless.

Falling Into Darkness.

Judge Not Lest You Be Judged.

Blitzkrieg band line up :-

Brian Ross – lead vocals.

Ken Johnson – Guitars/keyboards.

Alan Ross – Guitars/vocals.

Huw Holding – Bass guitar.

Matt Graham – Drums.