Neckbreaker, Germany (Reviewer: Bernd Eberlein (Ebi)) - Live Blood album review


Present since the 80s with breaks and many line-up changes and still on the road. Like SAXON, the TYGERS OF PAN TANG are indestructibly raising the NWOBHM flag with a modern sound in 2024. Now the “Predators” are releasing a recording of their concert “Live Blood” from the Welsh club “The Patriot”, which was recorded in the summer of 2023 on the occasion of the promotion of their “Bloodlines” long player. Right away. If you want to experience the band's unbridled intensity and get an overview of the entire range of their long career in optimal live sound, you have to pick up this album with 19 excellently selected songs.


The TYGERS currently consist of long-time members Robb Weir (guitar), Jacopo Meille (vocals) and Craig Ellis (drums). Since the last studio album “Bloodlines” they have been joined by guitarist Francesco Marras and Huw Holding (bass).


“Live Blood” impressively documents the enormous qualities of a hard rock band that has constantly developed over the decades and is in the prime of its second spring. The quintet presents the symbiosis of melodic hard rock and heavy metal in a relaxed, casual and energetic manner. They haven't lost their dirty working-class sound of the early eighties.


The song selection skilfully covers all creative phases with priorities on the extremely strong, catchy heavy metal album “Bloodlines” from 2023 with four numbers; the rousing stomper “Edge Of The World”, the lightning-fast “Fire On The Horizon”, “Back For Good” and the metallic anthem “A New Heartbeat”. “Bloodlines” has developed away from pure NWOBHM and is more American and mainstream, but offers great tracks and combines strong melodies with hard riffs. The new songs are in harmony with the big “old” numbers, which appear completely timeless in the modern live guise. The opener “Euthanasia” from the debut album “Wild Cat” from 1980 is brutal in its newly polished sound; highly aggressive METAL perfection. The raging riff monster “Gangland”, from the 81 “Spellbound album”, with its brilliant leads is enough to kneel down on. The DOKKEN-style power ballad “Paris By Air” loosens up the partly very metallic set. The song selection is consistently excellent and shows no weaknesses, regardless of whether they are songs from the early phase, such as “Insanity”, which is accompanied by crazy laughter and raw energy, the straight “Blood Red Skies”, the epic “Edge Of The World” or the guitars -dominant cover song “Love Potion No. 9”. The quality of the guitar section is outstanding and doesn't really miss the former band member, the string wizard John Sykes (THIN LIZZY).


Conclusion: A technically perfect live album with a balanced mix of old and new classics. Iacopo Meille has a powerful, variable voice, sometimes reminiscent of Geoff Tate, and the two guitarists Robb Weir and Francesco Marras complement each other virtuosically and in perfect harmony. Fat bass riffs and hard drumming run through the entire setlist. Despite their roots, the TYGERS are imaginative and convincingly juggle their heavy metal style; it can sometimes be pleasant hard rock and sometimes almost speed metal. This is the best of the back catalogue of a great band. And nostalgia is completely out of place here, because here you don't mourn the past but rather bring old virtues into the modern age, namely Songs with “A New Heartbeat”. It's inexplicable to me that the "rock stations" mostly ignore such a fantastic band. (Bernd Eberlein)



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