Here’s a bit of an unusual, quirky but bl**dy dammed good band for you to discover (or remember) from the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days. Triarchy.
Formed in the 1970s and originating from Kent they would follow the well-worn path trod by many of their counterparts at the time.
Lots of gigging, not much attention/interest from “the biz”, a single or two then back obscurity before disappearance.
The single Save the Khan is one of the rarer and most sought after from “back in the day”.
However thanks to the good folks at High Roller records we have that track plus (I believe) everything Triarchy recorded without it seeing the light of day until High Roller sorted that out with a whole album to marvel at.
Save the Khan itself is (in my opinion) quite remarkable. The slightly strange timing, a driving stop/start riff that Alex Lifeson would have been proud of had he come up with it for A Farewell to Kings and a nice use of synths to pomp things up without losing the overall feel of a heavy rock style affair. Huge catchy chorus too.
A sort of a Rush/Hawkwind/Ultravox mash-up. Terrific. Listen for yourself:
Triarchy use the same sort of approach on the storming Juliet’s Tomb and Metal Messiah (huge song, massive riff) switching to the more conventional but still slightly offbeat rockers in the form of tracks such as Hellhound on my Trail and Wheel of Samsara.
The changes of style and invention add to the “twist” and show a band which wasn’t afraid to try something different without forgetting the rock. For example Hiroshima borders on early Duran Duran.
Yes, this album is something of a curiosity with it being that little bit different – but that does not detract from the listening enjoyment provided by a band who offered up chops different from most and had the ability to carry it off.
I have only hazy recollections of then band from the original NWOBHM days and can’t add much other than to say that I assume the short-lived career at the time may have been down to circumstances and competition given the number of bands scrambling for attention slapped with the NWOBHM tag.
It didn’t work out for Triarchy in the 1970s/1980s though after getting your ears around Save the Khan you’ll wonder why.
>> TRIARCHY SAVE THE KHAN AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON HERE <<
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