When an email arrives from Sonic Age Records it generally means there’s some old, under the radar stuff from a long forgotten NWOBHM band being rediscovered and released by somebody and being stocked by Sonic Age.
The latest email being no exception. The news being that Dyamond Roxx are releasing not one, but two.
These being expanded editions of Lady of the Night by Marz and Manoeuvrers by Sam Thunder.
Both in limited edition CD runs of 300 copies each.
Marz hailed from the Grantham area though never amounted to much outside of a local following and if I remember there was some line-up interchangeability with another NWOBHM band from the area – Overdrive.
Marz did manage to put out a self-released single and cut a demo tape and that was that before calling time on the band in the early 1980s.
On this limited edition CD via Dyamond Roxx we have the Lady of the Night single and the demo tape.
Six tracks of generally straightforward NWOBHM-style music.
Here is Lady of the Night:
Turning to Sam Thunder…..this lot hailed from Manchester being active for the first half of the 1980s.
An early demo got a positive write up in the old Kerrang magazine with the band’s style having a melodic/AoR/pomp tinge to it with some keyboards and whatnot.
Perhaps think say early Praying Mantis or Chinawite for a rough comparison.
An EP of their demo saw a release as did a debut album – Manoeuvrers – via a the smallish Bullet Records.
Apparently the album was released only in picture disc format. Now, picture discs were something of a thing in the mid-1980s.
Whilst nice to look at, picture discs tended to have a poor sound quality, which may not have helped.
Also seems that the record company didn’t put too much effort in to promoting Sam Thunder with the band splitting mid-decade to become another NWOBHM-related casualty.
Dyamond Roxx now reissuing Manoeuvrers as an expanded edition to include Sam Thunder’s demo as a limited edition run of 300 CDs.
Here’s You Set My Heart on Fire:
If you fancy bagging one or both CDs, here are links to Dyamond Roxx and Sonic Age Records, though other outlets available I’d think if you hunt around.
https://www.sonicagerecords.com
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