Year : 2014
Style : Heavy Metal , NWOBHM
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 125 mb
Bio:
The band started out as a Speed/Thrash Metal band and due to history the band invented the Speed/Thrash Metal to what it is today. They played faster and more agressive then any other band during the early days of the NWOBHM movement and created the way for the new era of Speed and Thrash metal genre movement within the Brittish metalscene that later on influenced many other bands as well as bands as Metallica.The NWOHBM-band Jaguar was originally formed in December 1979 in Bristol U.K trough an advertisment in the local paper by Garry Pepperd (guitar) and Jeff Cox (bass) looking for a drummer. By the following summer Chris Lovell (drums) joined the band.In April 1980 was an exchange of vocalist made and Rob Reiss (vocalist) joined the band and the now complete team went straight into the studios to record a demo that was finished in March 22, 1980 with songs like "Feel the Heat", Battle Cry" and "Piledriver"In December 1980 they also recorded another demo which they put together with the previous demo and added three new tracks as "Stormchild", "Ain't no Fantasy" and "War Machine" which they released it in February 1981 by placing an ad in "Sounds" to try to flog it. The band was pretty successful and sold around 540 of them which was by that time tremendous.This crew later on same year 1981 elbowed their way unto The Heavy Metal Heroes Compliation album by sending off their demo to Battle Of The Bands competition and eventually a letter came through saying; -congratulations, you've made it through to the Bristol heats! The first gig on May 2, 1981 was in the finals of the contest. Jaguar got a good reaction from the judges and came fourth. Thier Contribution to the album was the song "Stormchild" released later by Heavy Metal Records same label that also later on led to the contribution of the single "Back Street Woman" and was released in the second week of November 1981 and sold out of its initial pressing of 4,000 copies sold out within two months just after Christmas.Through a notice in the excellent Dutch HM fanzine Aardschok Jaguar came to the attention of one Frits Gijsbertse, a fan of the band. He wrote to Jaguar saying he could fix gigs over there so the band caught a ferry to Holland in the Netherlands.In 1982 a Paul Merrell (vocalist) from the band Stormtrooper joined the band replacing Rob Reiss (vocalist) just in time for the single "Axe Crazy" and they signed to the label Neat Records, the album was released the following year in June 1983, now Jaguar started to purr in a higher gear with their debut album "Power Games" which was an succsess with its no-nonsese high speed-approach.His crew later on same year 1981 elbowed their way unto The Heavy Metal Heroes Compliation album by sending off their demo to Battle Of The Bands competition and eventually a letter came through saying; -congratulations, you've made it through to the Bristol heats! The first gig on May 2, 1981 was in the finals of the contest. Jaguar got a good reaction from the judges and came fourth. Thier Contribution to the album was the song "Stormchild" released later by Heavy Metal Records same label that also later on led to the contribution of the single "Back Street Woman" and was released in the second week of November 1981 and sold out of its initial pressing of 4,000 copies sold out within two months just after Christmas.Through a notice in the excellent Dutch HM fanzine Aardschok Jaguar came to the attention of one Frits Gijsbertse, a Netherlands-based promoter. He wrote to Jaguar saying he could fix gigs over there so the band caught a ferry to the Netherlands and it went really well.In 1982 a Paul Merrell (vocalist) from the band Stormtrooper joined the band replacing Rob Reiss (vocalist) just in time for the single "Axe Crazy" and they signed to the label Neat Records and the album was released the following year in June 1983, now Jaguar started to purr in a higher gear with their debut album "Power Games" which was an succsess with its no-nonsese high speed-approach.The first piece of vinyl that came out was 'Stormchild' on the 'Heavy Metal Heroes' compilation in 1980, then the Back Street Woman' single in 1981, then in 1982 came the 'Axe Crazy' single. The album 'Power Games' was released in 1983 and 'This Time' in 1984
Altar of the Metal Gods - NWOBHM
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (frequently abbreviated as NWOBHM) is a heavy metal music movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved some international attention by the early 1980s. The era developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. NWOBHM bands toned down the blues influences of earlier acts, increased the tempo, and adopted a "tougher" sound, taking a harder approach to its music. It was a scene directed almost exclusively at heavy metal fans. The era is considered to be a main foundation for heavy metal sub-genres with acts such as Metallica citing NWOBHM bands like Saxon, Diamond Head, and Iron Maiden as a major influence on their musical style.The early movement was associated with acts such as: Iron Maiden, Saxon, Motörhead, Def Leppard, Angel Witch, Tygers of Pan Tang, Blitzkrieg, Avenger, Sweet Savage, Girlschool, Jaguar, Demon, Diamond Head, Samson and Tank, among others. The image of bands such as Saxon (long hair, denim jackets, leather and chains) would later become synonymous with heavy metal as a whole during the 1980s. Some bands, although conceived during this era, saw success on an underground scale, as was the case with Venom and Quartz.Looking at most comprehensive lists of bands of the time reveals hundreds of obscure or short lived acts. While the average listener would possibly gloss over these unknowns looking for more recognisable acts, record collectors revere such bands. The sheer number of low cost demos from the era, as well as the limited amount of information and media coverage of the era, has led to some of the releases becoming highly collectable. Records originally pressed for very little cost have sold more recently to collectors for hundreds of dollars. In some cases as few as 1 copy of a record is known to exist.
NEAT RECORDS AND JAGUAR
Neat Records was a record label based near Newcastle, England. The label was established in 1979 by David Wood, who was the owner of Impulse Studios in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. The label was sold in 1995 by its then owner, the former Tygers of Pan Tang vocalist Jess Cox, to Sanctuary Records.Neat Records was arguably the most instrumental label in the revival of heavy metal in the early 80s in the UK. The movement was known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal or NWOBHM for short. The label is most notorious for the early releases of Newcastle band Venom who are widely credited with the invention of black metal. While none of Neat Records' acts really broke through to the mainstream themselves, Venom, Raven, Blitzkrieg and Jaguar particularly are acknowledged as major influences on a host of major American thrash metal bands such as Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax. In fact Metallica have even covered Blitzkrieg's self-titled song "Blitzkrieg" and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has claimed "Whiplash" to be a deliberate attempt to emulate Jaguar's song "Stormchild".
Album:
The NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) remains one of my favorite eras of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Beyond the bands that became breakouts: SAXON, IRON MAIDEN, DEF LEPPARD – you have a number of acts who created some killer albums that many musicians and fans hold in high regard: ANGEL WITCH, SATAN, TYGERS OF PAN TANG, and an album released in 1983, called “Power Games” by the act I’m currently reviewing, JAGUAR.In 2014, only guitarist Garry Pepperd remains from the old days, but since reactivating the band in 1998, vocalist Jamie Manton has been a mainstay for 16 years, with the latest addition being drummer Nathan Cox in 2011. Using the digital music medium to release new music, the latest studio album, “Metal X”, contains 11 songs that prove that, even as the quartet gets older, they still know how to put a little pep in their step and perform in that tradition of blazing, heads down Heavy Metal.The first song, “Warts & All”, storms out of the gates, Nathan laying down some serious fill work and energetic double bass, as Garry’s accelerated riffing and Jamie’s upper register vocal action brings to mind their younger years, along with the skilled power of RIOT. An ironically titled “3 Minute Song” is actually 5 minutes, containing a smoldering lead break and another engaging hook that reminded me of older TWISTED SISTER, during their “Under the Blade” days; some impactful harmonies during the bridge and chorus bring this down as one of JAGUAR’s highlights.The band also can lay down some mid-tempo muscle beyond their revved up classic Heavy Metal – check “Out of Time” in this department. Overall I was very surprised that most of this material is up tempo, guitar hero based, and will bring back a lot of memories for people who can remember when RAVEN and ACCEPT were seen as leaders of their day. Even the production values are primitive, giving the musicians an in your face snare snap, guitar crunch, and as natural a bass as you could hope for.Anyone who says Heavy Metal is dead – give them “Metal X”. JAGUAR is doing just fine creating relevant material today and not content on living purely on past adulation and accomplishments.
Line Up:
Garry Pepperd Guitars (1979-1985, 1998-present)
Nathan Cox Drums (1998-2009, 2011-present)
Simon Patel Bass (2006-present)
Tracklist:
01. Warts & All 03:41
02. New Tricks 03:46
03. 3 Minute Song 05:02
04. X-Wing 04:32
05. Out of Time 05:12
06. Fair Wind of Fire 02:55
07. Day of the Triffids 03:30
08. Moral Decline 04:40
09. Horse 03:21
10. Painted in a Corner 04:54
11. Stormchild 2014 02:43
+ Video "Axe Crazy" (Live at Metal Assault 2014)
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
