Sunday 1 March 2009

Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction (1984)


Superb heavy metal, blessed with a great cover, and bestowing a cool, doomy heavy metal sound. The band are still hanging ion there releasing worthy albums, but this debut is an essential purchase, nine tracks of solid metal. Metal very much of its time, but having that basic yet magical ingredient to cause a major spark. You can never truly put your finger on why these kind of bands are able to create such volcanic metal and albums like this are hard to come by. Sure, countless bands try their hand at the imagery, the beefy, power metal riffs and lordly vocals, but so many fail at the sincerity. Priest managed such heated fury with 'Painkiller', but what makes 'Ample...' much more potent is the fact it was released so many years previous.


Mark Briody can be thanked for the merciless guitar, electrifying riffs backing Harry Conklin's warlord yelps which sail across the horizon like hordes of wildebeests. 'Warfare' is first class metal, 'Harden Than Steel' throbs and writhes like an angry dragon, and 'Reign Of The Tyrants' gathers momentum like a tidal wave, frothing blackness as it devours the land. This is what proper heavy metal is all about, no fakery, just simple yet astoundingly effective music. It's amazing how albums like this stand the test of time and then some, even wiping the floor with so many modern imitators. Although 'Ample...' has long been discontinued, get a copy by any means necessary...


8/10

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