Like many others in the early 1980s as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal took off, a band named Rhabstallion set off to make their mark.
They hail from a couple or three junctions along the M62 motorway from yours truly and back in the day put in the “hard yards” to get noticed.
Whilst they did go down very well locally with their brand of energetic, enthusiastic, bouncing rockers, wider recognition wouldn’t materialise and they subsequently called it a day.
That was until a reformation in 2017 as the chaps realised they still had the desire to sort out unfinished business.
That resulted in their first full length album – Back in the Saddle – being released in 2021 and the follow-up of Bat Shit Crazy in 2024. Both albums are excellent.
The Rhabs’ have not let up and now released a hybrid album consisting of three new tracks and eleven live tracks with the album aptly titled New, Live and Raw.
The three new tracks are typical Rhabstallion. The enthusiasm from the 1980s remains strong.
The new songs of I’ll Die Trying, Break Down the Walls and Tranquillity give a trio of strong, meaty rockers. Big riffs, big sound, effectively succinct solos and foot tapping hooks. Proper, honest rockers with the NWOBHM roots evident.
The live stuff is captured from their performance at the Heavy Metal Maniacs festival in Holland last year (2025).
That was something of a vintage NWOBHM festicval with Rhabstallion sharing the bill with the likes of Elixir, Spartan Warrior and Tysondog amongst others,
The eleven songs span their career featuring a mixture of old stuff such as Stranger Stranger and newer stuff from the recent studio albums.
Raw, powerful, energetic and enjoyable. A band in its element live and that comes over in a positive way here.
With the three new songs, perhaps we’ll have a new studio album at some point.
If you might not be too familiar with Rhabstallion, here they are banging out The Call:
Bag your copy of New, Live and Raw from the Rhabs’ web site:
https://www.rhabstallion.com
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