CASTLE DONNINGTON TYTON PICTURE DISC 7 TRACKS 1984 HEAVY METAL INDIE

$

30

DOMESTIC FIRST $ 4  EACH ADDITIONAL $ 1    FOREIGN FIRST $ 24 NEXT 2 ADDITIONAL $ 6 EACH   ( ON FOREIGN SHIPMENTS I WILL ADJUST ANY OVERPAYMENT AFTER IT IS SHIPPED. Iron Works again. This awesome PIC catches your eye because of the fantastic medieval artwork, the helmet of a knight! The music is great US stuff, best songs is "Castle Donington" and "Alien Suicide" (double bass power!). I  Love the production, especially the drum sound. This "muffled", "stiffling" bass drum sound, gets me everytime i hear this LP. Amid the sea of largely forgotten bands from original heavy metal explosion in the early to mid 80s are a number of unsung heroes who probably should have gotten further than they ultimately did. One of the Texas adherents that stuck it out all the way until the mid 1990s yet struggled to really make their mark was Castle Donnington, but it was definitely not for any lack of trying or any deficit in the talent department. They fielded it duo of LPs of head-cutting, energy infused heavy metal that bore a close resemblance to a number of bigger names in the NWOBHM scene, with the two obvious choices being that of Saxon and Grim Reaper. Of their offerings, their debut Castle Donnington was definitely the harder-hitting and rawer of the pair, and what it may have lacked in production value and consistency due to its independent funding (some of these songs almost sound like they were done at different studios), it makes up for in catchy, fast-paced fun.

There is a fairly strong Judas Priest root to where this band goes in terms of pacing and songwriting, and the generally fuzzy guitar tone and loose-feeling drum work makes it almost a dead-ringer for a Screaming For Vengeance emulation, minus the Halford-like vocals. Shawn Damien-Barusch's singing definitely has a bit more of a Biff Byford feel to it, mixed in with a slight helping of Vince Neil sleaze at times. The chief feature of this album, however, is the dual-guitar assault of what is assumed to be the Vax brothers (Paul and V.K., not sure if they are related or if it was a stage-name gimmick), which is where the Priest influences really come into focus. Several of these songs see these two trading blows with about the fervency of a Downing vs. Tipton approach, though one of the two has a bit more of an overt Toni Iommi vibe to his soloing and guitar tone at times, giving some of the slower work on here a slight, Dio-era Sabbath feel here and there.

Overall the songwriting and, more specifically, the riff work and drive of these songs is fairly disciplined and in tune with existing practices of the early 80s. Up beat, guitar driven goodness like "Metal And Silk" and "The Predator" keep the formula fairly straight-lined and listen along fairly similar lines to some of the stuff heard on Grim Reaper's See You In Hell, but with a somewhat more fuzzy guitar tone and more lead noodling, not to mention a raunchy, somewhat sloppy set of shrieks coming from the vocal department. There's a bit more of an overt speed metal vibe to the likes of "Alien Suicide" and "Vax-A-Nation" that paints the landscape with a heavy degree of complex drum kit work, along with a few Iron Maiden-inspired lead lines to complement the steady diet of shredding that the Vax duo dish out. The biggest surprise and most distinctive pick out of the bunch is the slow-paced, doom-drenched Sabbath nod "Salem's Cove", which may well have been a b-side off a Mob Rules single with a bigger production and Dio at the mic.

As time went on and the later 80s came, this band would lighten their sound a bit and never really recapture the raw intensity that they achieved here, due in no small part to every single member of the band save vocalist Shawn Damien-Barusch leaving. It is enough to make one wonder if the changing landscape of heavy metal in the later 80s caused a lot of musicians to leave the scene, or said musicians opting to quit and pursue other fields of employment paved the way for said changes. The truth is likely a near equal combination of the two, but at the end of the day, there is a good argument to be made that the less commercial and harder-edged sound of the earlier half of the decade had an edge. Pretty much anyone with a taste for the early 80s exploits of Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Saxon or Grim Reaper will find something to like here, not the least of it being a degree of musicianship that makes them worthy of being listed among such company. THIS IS ONLY ON THE MEGA RARE PICTURE DISC  STUPID  BUT IT IS A MUST HAVE FOR 80`S METAL / HARD ROCK FOR SURE