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VS-Baronin.livejournal.com - 'Ritual' Review
by Vsevolod Baronin
Not to say that
the brightest representatives of
NENWOBHM (the "new wave of
British heavy metal from the
northeast") Tygers Of Pan Tang
had less career adventures than
their fellow rivals in style
from other parts of Britain -
from the original composition to
the moment of the revival of the
"tigers "In 2001 there was only
a guitarist Robb Weir (Robb
Weir), in its composition
1984-1987 did not play. As you
know, Robb was the only
guitarist in the first line-up
of the group, and with him as
such recorded the debut album
“Wild Cat” (1980), personally
considered by Jeff Barton (Geoff
Barton) and other heralds NWOBHM
for the fundamentally better
work of the group. Let us leave
this opinion to the conscience
of these heralds, but Robb
really turned out to be the
guardian of traditions: having
found sensible vocalist Jack
Meille at the time of recording
the album “Animal Instinct”
(2008), he turned Tygers Of Pan
Tang into a wonderfully stable
in a musical sense, composition.
All that the group has been
recording since then is
variations on the theme of its
really best album “Spellbound”
(1981), on which melodic speed
metal was presented to the world
for the first time, although
until the birth of the tricky
some terms still had about five
years. From that moment, Robb
and colleagues did not know
defeat, although they didn’t
grab stars from the sky ... But
the concert and studio activity
of Tygers Of Pan Tang
unexpectedly led to the
re-release of their early legacy
in the guise of the five-disc CD
box “The MCA Years” (2017) -
like that that now an attentive
listener can compare old and
young tigers, and ...
And to make an amazing
conclusion, especially with
respect to such NWOBHM veterans,
the conclusion: the group didn’t
leave their roots anywhere, and
the material is exactly the same
as almost 40 years ago.
Probably, Robb, unlike many
other peers, understands
perfectly well that they are not
expecting from him some mythical
"experiments" and "development",
but precisely finding a
well-trodden track once and for
all. Perhaps that is why he
gives his colleagues the
opportunity to fully act not
only as co-authors, but simply
as songwriters - and they are
happy to try. So glad that the
differences from the spirit of
“Spellbound” on “Ritual” for at
least the third time (after the
albums “Ambush”, 2012, and
“Tygers Of Pan Tang”, 2016) are
extremely minimal - for example,
the numbers “Raise Some Hell” ,
“White Lines” and “Damn You!”
they sound like the outbacks of
the early 80s that the band
played just now. Yes, this is
the same "frantic boogie" -1981
according to Jeff Burton!
Somewhere, musicians add a
little more epic to vocal
melodies (“Worlds Apart”,
“Spoils Of War”, “Art Of Noise”
and “Sail On”), somewhere - they
try to create a vocal “almost
hit” (“Destiny” ), or even play
a simple European hard-n-heavy,
showing a lot of similarities
with the Swiss Gotthard (“Rescue
Me”). But there is no “way out”,
and the whole essence of the
quintet’s work is best expressed
in the ballad of a big hand (you
can’t say otherwise) “Words Cut
Like Knives” and the
super-melodious track “Love Will
Find A Way”, which I’d like to
name a monument in honor of
NWOBHM, and no less. One can
only be surprised at the loyalty
of Robb and his musicians to the
postulates of a different era -
but with what genuine joy they
share with us in the company of
their former guitarist Fred
Parser! Here I don’t even want
to point out to other veterans
of the style “you would like
that”: for the mass of young
groups “Ritual” can also become
a model of how to keep your
roots and be true to your
musical ideas.
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