Avenger’s two albums from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal days re-issued in a tasty triple pack with a disc of a live performance from their 1986 date in Brooklyn.
All tasty stuff with plenty of bonus tracks, demos and the like.
Avenger were formed by Brian Ross and Nick Moore in 1982 after their previous band – Blitzkrieg – split (though they’d later re-form).
Being from Newcastle, which was one of the strongholds of the NWOBHM scene, they were signed by local label Neat Records who were themselves known for signing many an aspiring NWOBHM band.
In something of a vocalist swap, Ross soon left to join Satan with Ian Swift going in the opposite direction. In came a second guitarist also and Avenger would record their debut album – Blood Sports – which was released in 1984.
And pretty good it is too. Full of shortish to the point songs full of hard and heaviness with the big riffs and the no messing about quite spectacular soloing. Proper NWOBHM with some finesse too rather than being crank it up to eleven and play as fast as possible. More refined than that.
Enforcer, You’ll Never Take Me Alive, Victims of Force, Too Wild to Tame all enjoyable and hard hitting. N.O.T.J is a fun one with the variation of a thumping bass alternating with the big riffage. Warfare shows they could do the slower slightly brooding stuff as well.
Unfortunately Blood Sports was let down by a poor production job. The drums way too up in the mix coming over as rather overpowering and the vocals too muddy. The guitars and bass sounding somewhat “raw”. That said, it is a fine album with plenty to enjoy if forgiving the mixing.
In short order, Avenger released their second album – Killer Elite – in 1985. In came guitarist Greg Reiter after being recruited via his advert in Sounds (remember Sounds?). Killer Elite a definite step up in all departments – in particular the blazing guitars and a much, much better production job.
An album of big numbers generally on the fast side and as good if not better than anything any of Avenger’s contemporaries were doing at the time.
Stuff like Revenge Attack, Run for your Life and Brand of Torture pack a knockout punch. Steel on Steel has the variation and change of pace. Hard Times and Under the Hammer huge, powerful numbers as the heavy stuff keeps coming.
Yesterday’s Heroes I think the outstanding track on an outstanding album demonstrating what talent Avenger had. Have a listen:
Killer Elite should have put Avenger well on the road to the big time. Alas it did not and they’d split after some dates in America citing lack of record company support. The third disc here of the Brooklyn date in March 1986 is a good listen too.
Now we can all enjoy what Avenger had to offer thanks to Cherry Red doing what they do so well with their box sets often (as we have here) rediscovering good old New Wave of British Heavy Metal era bands. Both albums, the live performance and a comprehensive booklet with the history of the band from back then.
Avenger had the chops, if not the breaks back then. This excellent box set is testament to that.
>> AVENGER BOX SET ON AMAZON <<