It happened once, can it happen again? Well maybe not on the same revolutionary level that it did over two decades ago, but it does go to show that these guys (and girls in one case) can still play at the same level that they could when the whole NWOBHM scene exploded along with the post punk scene of the late seventies. The three groups represented here, Girlschool, Tygers of Pan Tang, and Oliver/Dawson Saxon (basically Saxon, minus Biff Byford, who won the name in a lawsuit), come forth with five cuts to create layout of this release.

Regardless of the inactivity of these bands (and unfortunate lax visibility among the Metal scene; other than the "regular" Saxon having the most success), a 2003 tour ensued while these bands as well as others from that era have some of the most sought after rare recordings, as well as a high demand for reissues among record collectors and metalheads.

Acting more like a souvenir from the 2003 tour, with many of the cuts previously released or eventually to be released on upcoming recordings, it represents these bands very well in this day and age. Looking at the Oliver/Dawson's Saxon cuts, they carry the same grind that the original Saxon did, but of course without Byford, a big element is missing. All of their cuts are heavily paced, complete with the Marshall crunch and driving rhythms, with the exception of "Broken" offering up a powerful ballad to endure within this lineup.

Girlschool are still executing their metal-meets-punk with pop sensibility, one cut that particularly stands out is the anthem-ish "Coming Your Way." As for Tygers of Pan Tang, they actually do a good take on the 60's garage pop hit "Love Potion No. 9," not so much making it sound like their own, but you have to give them credit for it, it's their dark cut "Mystical" that takes the cake for them on this record.

For these three bands that kicked ass years ago, they can still kick it now, with just stripped down balls to the wall crunch, but then again that all these guys needed to kick ass in the first place, no gimmicks, just loud music.

Written by Hashman
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
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Hashman: 6/10

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Comment by Mads J. (Anonymous) - Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Nice to see the NWOBHM-genre still lives on! I'm not going to comment on the Oliver/Dawson Saxon songs. I mean, basically shitting on what they've been part of for so long should be too low even for these guys...pathetic! Girlschool still rocks! They showed that a couple of years ago with the album 21th Anniversary - Not That Innocent, from which most of these tracks are taken and with their energetic performance at 2002's Sweden Rock Festival. Mad Mad Sister, Coming Your Way and Innocent shows that these girls are still able to write catchy upbeat songs...great! Tygers were always on the forefront of the genre, and in that perspective it seems a bit odd that none of the tracks included are taken from the albums they released in their heyday, when the band still included John Sykes (1980-82). But it's obvious that they have tried to put focus on their newer material instead. The songs from Mystical dissapointed me to say the least so I'm looking forward to hearing the song from their new album. Guess I need to purchase this release, if not for anything else then in order to support this great scene...NWOBHM still lives on!!! And by the way, the Second Wave Of British Heavy Metal tour in 2003 never happened. It got cancelled in the last minute, for God knows why.

Comment by Ole Bach (Anonymous) - Thursday, February 19, 2004

Oliver/Dawsons so called Saxon should never have been on that cd, they are a bunch of wanks and they must not use the name Saxon.O.B.