A sort of two for the price of one from the more melodic side of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. What we have here is yet another band (or in this case bands) from the old NWOBHM days being “rediscovered” and stuff from back then put out on a limited run of CDs.
A couple of songs from Moselle are first up. Moselle formed in the early 1980s though they did not last long.
Only around a year though they did manage to put out a single – Call Me – and that was that.
The first two songs here consist of the Moselle output. The first being Rock Anthem – which is an excellent song with a nice hook and melody.
Les Maull’s vocals are crystal clear and the man had a fine set of pipes. Add to that some tasty guitar from Ron Hales and one can see, or rather hear, that Moselle had promise.
Have a listen to Rock Anthem now:
Their single, Call Me, is also on this anthology. Not hard to see why it was an obvious single. Thought it’s a bit too lightweight for my ears.
When Moselle split, Maull and Hales went on to General Wolf in 1983 with the band lasting until around 1987 without being too productive regarding recorded output. The remaining eight tracks taken up by the bands efforts.
A single did appear – I Believe in Love – which is the third track here. Something of a tame effort in my opinion. That, and the next three songs are (again in my opinion) far too lightweight with no kick to them.
Then on the remaining four songs, General Wolf turn in to a band with much more bite moving away from the overt AOR morphing in to a rockier approach more aligned to NWOBHM.
Morning Dew an upbeat, brooding affair. My Life (noted as being live in the studio) is a monster of a songs. Much power with Maull’s vocal prowess demonstrated to fine effect as is the guitar work of Hales.
The best is saved for last. The blistering eight minute salvo of Runaway which is a live recording showing the band on top, top form. It’s a top notch effort. The second half of which feels like an extended, well-rehearsed jam with all sorts going on, in particular that man Hales on guitar.
Overall what we have here may be something of a New Wave of British Heavy Metal era curiosity featuring a couple of bands who didn’t quite make it. And whilst Moselle and General Wolf were more inclined to the melodic side of the spectrum, they could still knock out a tasty rocker too.
Thanks to No Remorse Records for dusting this off. It is, however, on a limited run of just 500 CDs. So act fast if you’d like one.
I bagged my copy from Sonic Age Records. As I type this review in early April 2020, both Sonic Age Records and No Remorse Records web sites show this Moselle/General Wolf Rock Anthems anthology is available.
Sonic Age Records: https://sonicagerecords.com
No Remorse Records: https://www.noremorse.gr