Blitzkrieg formed in 1980 as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was taking off and had a style well-suited to the genre. Crunching no nonsense riff-based in yer face heaviness.
Initially it wasn’t looking too promising for the band as they split around a year later after releasing a solitary single.
However guitarist Brian Ross put together a reformed line-up in 1984. Things started to look up with interest from legendary NWOBHM label Neat Records and the well-received album A Time of Changes appearing in 1985.
Then Blitzkrieg did another disappearing act with a decade passing before their next album – Unholy Trinity – appeared in 1995. All of a sudden the band got busy with the follow-up album Ten released in 1996.
All solid NWOBHM-style rifferama and good stuff to boot.
Have a listen to Armageddon as a taster of what Blitzkrieg were about back then:
The Mists of Avalon was the band’s next release in 1998 seeing them change direction somewhat with the album being a concept around the legend of King Arthur (the clue is in the title) and the musical style more akin to a spot of atmospheric progressive metal.
The band has remained active ever since popping up regularly with new albums as recently as 2018 and an EP in 2019.
A five-CD box set of Blitzkrieg’s early stuff including some live stuff and some demos has been issued as Complete Recordings Volume 1 (perhaps hinting that there’s more to come….) comprising:
- A Time of Changes with bonus tracks including a 1980 demo tape featuring Blitzkrieg, Inferno and Armageddon together with their solitary single Buried Alive.
- The Blitzed Alive demo cassette
- Unholy Trinity
- Ten
- The Mists of Avalon
Basically the band’s output from formation to the end of the 1990s.
It gives an excellent opportunity for old NWOBHM aficionados to get all misty eyed as we recall the glory days or for the new fans to get in to a band who, perhaps for the periods of inactivity in the 1980s and 1990s, could have been bigger.
>> Blitzkrieg: Complete Recordings Volume 1 on Amazon <<