New Wave of British Heavy Metallers Solider is at it again. Or rather original (and still) guitarist Ian Dick has been a busy boy putting together this outstanding double CD of cleaned up demos from the band’s early days at the start of the 1980s. They most certainly had the chops and the talent as evidenced by this offering.
They could rock with the best of them though also had the changes of pace, finesse and song-structure to stand out from the NWOBHM pack.
As the liner notes and album title suggests, what Ian has re-mastered effectively acts as a history of Soldier.
After reading the notes and listening to the tracks one can imagine a set of keen, talented youngsters pushing it in the studio for (at the time) little or no reward. But what about the music….?
Circuit Breaker: A frantic opener with an unusual and rather funky mini bass and drum solos in the mid-section.
Dirty Doris: Does the title need any expansion…..a sort of a Soldier equivalent of Whole Lotta Rosie. Straight ahead rocker
Blind Destiny: Awesomely epic. Staccato riff, big sound which chugs along nicely then goes crazy twisting and turning time changes. Almost like a heavy metal jazz improve in places before Budgie-style solo kicks in Tony Bourge style a-la Black Velvet Stallion. A further extended frantic solo continues apace featuring fine fretwork before Phillips cuts back in to take us out with a spot of vocals. The band’s Beyond the realms of Death with all the changes of pace and time.
Insanity: It is….speedy rocker, pacey, hard, melodic, foot-tapper and head-nodder.
Silver Bullet: Gary Phillips channels Ozzy. Reminiscent of Paranoid. Is this the best song Black Sabbath never wrote?
No Chance for Tomorrow: Infectious chugging riffery and big guitars. One of the best songs Judas Priest never wrote.
Fire in My heart: Rocks as hard as anything ever has. Well paced with it and excellent guitars. Not unlike Thin Lizzy at their peak.
Infantrycide, Stay etc continue in the same vien.
After major line-up changes in early 1983, Solder tried to battle on with the latest incarnation looking more outwardly commercial evidenced by the Def Leppard style Heartbreak Zone but that would pretty much be the end of the road until the band got back together a few years ago.
I could go on and on (not mentioned the second CD yet….) though will say no more other than regular readers of this blog will know I’m a huge Soldier fan. Even so, this review has been written objectively based on the music. It might be thirty plus years old though stands up well and still sounds fresh.
Why Soldier were not huge – a mystery. They sure had the talent, not the breaks, though that is somewhat typical of the early NWOBHM days. Chronicles serves as proof of what a “proper” rock band was like back then. Full marks to Ian Dick for showing us all that with this double-CD.
It’s available from Soldier’s web site. I do suggest you get over there, check it out and get yourself one. Here’s where to go: http://www.soldiernwobhm.com
Please support us and buy us a coffee.
