STEINMETAL - 9/10

I was surprised to see that the WHITE WIZZARD crew hasn't sat on its hands this entire time. Their debut album, "Over The Top", didn't even had the time to insert itself into full recognition and here I already have a brand new release. These guys were really flying. Maybe that is why they called their new album "Flying Tigers", released via Earache Records. Who knows? However, what I do know is that this American group is a lean mean fighting Metal machine. They showed the world that NWOBHM hasn't really died in the US after all. After the British and US Metal seemed to have forgotten what their heritage feels like, there have been others to do it for them.

I have always been commenting about the deterioration of the old school in the countries that made so great in the 80s. Needless to say that with all the modernity flying around, my comments took breaths and even vomited. However, and this goes for almost any old school type of Metal subgenre, there will be always someone to carry the flame. I saw the Swedish scene doing just the thing for the British and the Americans. Nevertheless, with how things turned up with WHITE WIZZARD, this can be considered a comeback to the glory days, at least partially. With "Flying Tigers" at the helm, WHITE WIZZARD created NWOBHM in its true form that ranged back to the late 70s until the mid 80s. Furthermore, and that is one of the true things that I liked about their musical sensitivity, they attempted to turn catchy like song formulas into interesting progressive features.

Generally, I here declare that "Flying Tigers" topped so many old school albums that the Europeans, as NWOBHM's greatest competitors, released in the past few years. The album's sound production seemed so elegant, clean, polished to some extent with low gain on the guitar channels in order to capture the spirit of vintage times. Probably the only feature that was modern in the works was the drum set, but that didn't spoil a thing. With the aid of this kind of production, the material flew by with ease and with great delight.

Musically, I think that these guys are geniuses. Many Metal fans, especially as I see several of them today, don't like that bands reinvent old subgenres. In the case of WHITE WIZZARD, it seemed like they exactly knew how people would think. Therefore, alongside rather commercialized, yet undeniable by quality, NWOBHM hits as "West L.A. Nights", "Fight To The Death", "Night Train To Tokyo" and "Fall Of Atlantis", they bombarded with complex lines that made their material richer and even more impressive. "War Of The Worlds", "Blood On The Pyramids" and "Starman's Son" made me think again of why IRON MAIDEN, back in the beginning, wanted to sound more that what went on in their scene back then. Of course that like on any album, the band didn't accomplish in full, but they were utterly close. I bet that with a crew of skilled musicians that were led by the band's main man, the Steve Harris of WHITE WIZZARD, bassist Jon Leon that kept on hammering his instrument with such versatility, these guys can do anything.

With all of the band's higher qualities on making this album to become a blast, I have to serve the full load of my credits to one single dude and that is Wyatt Anderson. I don't know why this guy didn't want to remain in the band once again, but for me he was the strongest pillar on this album. His voice will forever be undeniable. I haven't heard too many high quality vocalists of late, but this guy has a true gift within his lungs of fire. I won't start making comparisons to the big boys, all I am saying is that it won't be the last time the Screaming Demon will be heard as he has so much chants to give.