Here’s a fine slab of “under the radar” New Wave of British Heavy Metal more than worthy of your attention. The band is Chartered Hurricane. The album is Touch the Rocks.
Chartered Hurricane hailed from South Wales around Porthcawl. Formed around 1980, they did what many NWOBHM-era bands did at the time – gig hard, try to build a following, put out a single. This they achieved with that single now being quite a rare thing.
However back then it didn’t go much further and Charted Hurricane disappeared from the scene. Now a few decades they got together again to re-record their stuff from the old days and some new stuff to form what would be a debut album.
Now we have that in the form of Touch the Rocks, though it is tingled with sadness as two members of the band have recently passed with Touch the Rocks being a fitting testament to their respective talents.
Ten tracks of some excellent song writing, skilfully arranged performed with a mixture of outright rockers, some melodically inclined rockers, a couple of ballads and a gripping, atmospheric, acoustic spoken word tribute to Porthcawl. Borders on spooky.
Of the songs on Touch the Rocks – plenty of variety.
Never in a Million Years a nice chunky melodic rocker. Spaceships is heavier and more direct.
The title track has a monster riff and killer guitar. A bit of a Thin Lizzy thing going on. A Funny Way of Showing You Love Me has a huge hook and memorable chorus. So Many Words a touching, sensitive ballad, A Thousand Miles From Home is another big rocker.
The haunting Beds in Heaven closes it out featuring some excellent soulful vocals from the late Phil Jones and fine brooding guitar work.
Indeed, the whole album is excellent from start to finish. Chalk Chartered Hurricane up in the long list of New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands from the old days who did not have the breaks their talent deserved.
The CD I believe is a rather limited release. I stumbled on mine via Obscure NWOBHM Releases. And looking at Chartered Hurricane’s Facebook page it is being sold on eBay. A few links below for you if you’d like to get a copy.
Chartered Hurricane Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/charteredhurricane/
Ebay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114780464137
Obscure NWOBHM Releases
https://onreleases.bigcartel.com/
Do at least check the band out. Whether you grew up with NWOBHM as I did or you enjoy good, intelligent rock songs you should like what Chartered Hurricane have to offer.