Here’s a quirky yet quite excellent “never quite made it” band from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal early days back in the 1980s. Zeb Dragon. What a great name eh?
Now, NWOBHM back then tended to be attached to just about any rock band emerging at the time given it was generally undefined.
One could argue that Zeb Dragon were not “proper” NWOBHM yet the certainly “rocked” enough in a style all of their own.
Formed in 1982 in the Stratford area of the West Midlands, Zeb Dragon played the gigging game hard locally building up a fan base though things didn’t work out for them and, as is a familiar tale of the time, talent could only take them so far.
They drifted around for a few years before fading away leaving behind them little in terms of recorded/session output.
Zeb Dragon’s mixture of heaviness mixed in with equal parts prog and folk was somewhat unique – perhaps to unique – for record companies to jump on probably thinking the band’s style wasn’t for mass appeal.
If that was the view of record companies in the early 1980s, shame on them…..!
Check out Voyage of a Twentieth Century Poet for example. A sort of weird folky intro with what sounds like a violin and mandolin before the punchy riff comes in with the quirky drumming and slightly manic vocal. Superb. Have a listen:
Then we have Underground. A seven minute mini-epic which sounds like Jethro Tull and Fairport Convention on speed.
Golden Angel is more “traditional” rock with a memorable chorus as is the similar sounding Two Weeks.
Thanks to the good folk at Cult Metal Classics/Sonic Age Record, Zeb Dragon’s “stuff” has been slapped on to CD for the first time and it’s dammed marvellous. Only seven songs though every one a classic.
Proper NWOBHM or not – it’s an impressive listen from a band who, despite being a bit different, had the chops.
I bought my copy from Sonic Age Records. Hurry if you’d like to do the same as I understand the run is limited to 500 copies. Here’s a link to the label: http://sonicagerecords.com – get one!
Please support us and buy us a coffee:
