Tank was a band which largely passed me by back in the good old New Wave of British Heavy Metal days of the early 1980s. However, I recently discovered a copy of their 1982 debut album Filth Hounds of Hades, which I had no idea I still possessed, and gave it a few spins for the first time in decades.
And what a refreshing experience it was. Such a no-nonsense, energy filled barrage of spiky attitude and speed fuelled heaviness with the punky edge.
Probably that style not a surprise given Tank was put together by former Dammed bassist Algy Ward (sadly we lost Algy in 2023) and also that Filth Hounds of Hades was produced by (then) Motorhead guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke (RIP 2018).
The cover artwork with the three-headed Cerberus was attention grabbing enough as was I now appreciate over four decades later, is the music.
Shellshock is just that – a battering ram of an opener after which the short, sharp shocks and aural assaults keep on coming one after the other.
Struck by Lightning, Run Like Hell, Blood Guts and Beer, Heavy Artillery, the title track and everything else will leave you with a pummelling.
This is NWOBHM at its most stripped down level with the rawness of it adding to the authenticity. No slick overproduction needed here. Just full on head down speed and power.
Here’s Struck by Lightening:
Tank would keep busy after the Filth Hounds of Hades by releasing three more albums by the end of 1983. However success would elude them with the end coming at the end of the decade.
There have been sporadic reformations here and there since and even two versions of Tank cropping up – one with Algy, one without – and albums released with the most current being from from the Mick Tucker/Cliff Evans version between 2010 and 2019.
I’m not sure if Tank is still active in some form or another?
In some related trivia – Tank titled the album Filth Hounds of Hades taking it from Vivian Stanshall’s extremely funny tale of Sir Henry at Rawlinson End from 1978.
Track that down if you can for some eccentric British humour which is Monty Python(ish).
Pleased I’ve re-discovered Tank after and been able to reappraise myself of Filth Hounds of Hades. May be you should too?
>> TANK FILTH HOUNDS OF HADES ON AMAZON <<
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