One advantage of being old, is that I was around for some great music and back in 1979 I was sixteen, so consequently my record buying revolved around finding singles (and finally albums) from bands in the NWOBHM movement. I loved Samson, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and so many more – my first ever metal gig was Saxon supported by Tygers of Pan Tang and while I was no expert on the genre, I certainly knew a lot about it. When I saw the name Sweet Savage turn up in my email the computer in my head whirred into life and my first thought was that this was the band which was formed by Vivian Campbell, long before the days of Dio, Whitesnake and Def Leppard. Considering they are not massively well-known, they have had a good run with musicians as they later featured guitarist Simon McBride in their ranks, who is now in Deep Purple!
Sweet Savage were one of the bands who had a new lease of life after Metallica covered one of their songs, “Killing Time”, but have broken up a few times over the years although they have been active one way or another since 2008. Co-founder Ray Haller (vocals, bass) is still there and the line-up has been stable since 2011 with Marty McCloskey (drums) and Phil Edgar (guitar), although for their first album since 2011’s ‘Rengeration’, ex-member Simon McBride has returned. The result is a record which is actually a load of fun, and highly commercial and polished. I have not heard any of their other albums (there were two in the Nineties), just a few odd tracks here and there on compilations from their very early days so have no idea if this is consistent with what they have put out before. It is not what I expected, as while brutal at times it is much more polished, although it is still very much from the stable of NWOBHM and power metal.
McBride has acted as producer and given his experience it is no surprise that he has removed the rough edges while still allowing the sheer heaviness to come through. This album may not be 100% essential, but it is still a damn fine listen and if I had the opportunity this is a band I would certainly like to see in concert. It will be interesting to see if there is another album in the near future, as here is a band who are still crunching out the goods many years after most people had thought they were gone for good.
Rating: 7/10
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/SweetSavage1979/
https://www.earmusic.com