Flight 19 buzzed around the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene for a few years in the 1980s and were not without promise.
A few demos and a gig recorded on “home turf” in Halifax – and those demos plus some of the live cuts now see the light of day thanks to Obscure NWOBHM Releases.
Flight 19 stood at the more melodic end of the NWOBHM spectrum.
They could punch along with the rest of them though had a more refined style building in some nice hooks and melodies along with the riffs and whatnot.
Indeed – when the guitars cut loose it reminds me somewhat of period Wishbone Ash.
Quite well known in and around the West Yorkshire region, Flight 19 didn’t manage to break out however on the evidence here on the Anthology they were capable of more given the chance.
Don’t Mess Me Around is a nice punchy tune. The eponymous Flight 19 forms in to a nice chunky, chugging rocker after a gentle intro. Some muscular guitar work too. Have a listen.
Moon Song and Lesson Number One feature some of those nice hooks then we have a couple of live tracks from the Hoppers gig (apparently only the band’s second live performance and the venue burnt down the following week) which are strong too.
Rubber Heel moves in to a sort of Beatles/Kinks style territory and it works well. Strangely catchy. Would have made a good single at the time.
Someone Else is the soulful, emotional ballad featuring a moody solo. So the band could do the slow burning stuff too.
The two closing tracks are taken from the Hoppers gig too and are perhaps the outright heaviest. Driving Beat and Fashion both show Flight 19’s ability to step it up and “rock out”.
Whilst Flight 19 did not fly too high, it is good to hear what they had to offer via the efforts of Obscure NWOBHM Releases to issue this Anthology.
I’d encourage you to check it out if you can – though be quick if you can as it’s a limited 500 copy run.
As usual for the “under the radar” NWOBHM stuff like this I bagged my copy via Sonic Age Records:
https://sonicagerecords.com
If you can get one of the 500 – I hope you enjoy listening.
Please support us and buy us a coffee:
