Tredegar was the band formed by ex-Budgie members Ray Phillips (drums) and the excellent Tony Bourge (guitar) in the early 1980s. As the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was on the rise at the time Tredegar got hit with that tag, which isn’t unreasonable as they were much different than Budgie and more of the time so to speak.
Keeping the Welsh connection being named after the town in Wales of the same name, Tredegar gigged around and recorded their eponymous debut album with the great Carl Sentence on vocals. And what an album it is. Full of big riffs, big rhythm section, blistering guitar work from riff-monster Bourge and those soaring vocals of Sentence.
Duma is a towering opener. Short. To the point. Huge chunky chords, huge hook, great solo. The Alchemist rocks it up further with an excellent free-flowing riff and more of the rock-solid drumming and Bourge guitar magic.
Many of the songs have something of a War of the Roses connection such as Richard III and Battle of Bosworth. Two contrasting songs. Richard III having the gently plucked/strummed opening section before the cataclysm appears and were off to the races. More monster free-flowing riffs and chords, solos and the magic voice of Sentence all over it. Whereas Battle of Bosworth more direct and fast paced.
Check out Richard III.
https://youtu.be/9fjNtsivBpY
The rest of the album equally great. The Jester, Which Way to Go and Wheels a trio of superb heavy rockers full of meaty goodness.
I’d say Tredegar’s first album compares to early Saracen without the keyboards. It’s a killer of an album though without label support it didn’t make much of a mark. Russ North came in on vocals though he and Andy Wood left to join Cloven Hoof and the band splintered.
Ray Phillips wouldn’t let it lie though keeping things going with a much changed line-up comprising himself, Jason Marsh and Sam Lees. They did record a second album in 1991, however that was not released at the time and Ray called time on Tredegar.
The debut has been hard to find on CD. I’d all but given up on it until recently stumbling on both albums on one CD on a German site. It features a re-mix of the debut album and also the unreleased second album. And it’s marvellous to have both.
Tredegar’s debut is superb NWOBHM-style rock form that period and surely should have done better than it did. The second album, whilst not up to the standards of the debut, is a solid effort.
I found the remix/rebirth CD containing both albums on Kathago Records:
http://www.karthagorecords.de/
The debut album is available for streaming format on Amazon Music:
https://amzn.to/3ceGpbM
Highly recommended as superb 1980s New Wave of British Heavy Metal style rock with the marvellous guitar work of Tony Bourge a highlight on the first album. As proved in his previous work with Budgie he can out-riff most and shred with the best.