Blitzkrieg: “Buried Alive” / “Blitzkrieg” (1981)
One of my all-time favorite New Wave of British Heavy Metal singles (and Metallica covers), “Blitzkrieg,” as performed by the band also called Blitzkrieg, started arriving in U.K. stores 40 years ago today through Neat Records ... this is NOT an original pressing.
Though it certainly looks like it, at first glance, thanks to lovingly replicated artwork, courtesy of modern reissue specialists Splattered! Records, who not only matched the original seven-inch’s simple, hand-drawn artwork and xeroxed band photos, but cleverly flipped Neat’s thumbs-up logo to a thumbs-down.
Adorbs!
Now, while you could certainly go to the trouble of tracking down a copy of the original, 1981 pressing for, oh, roughly $200, Splattered!’s 2019 pressing will only set you back about $10, and then you too could enhance your record collection with this small piece of N.W.O.B.H.M. history.
About that ... sometime in 1979, a singer named Brian Ross joined forces with a Leicester group named Split Image, and eventually convinced guitarists Jim Sirotto and Ian Jones, bassist Steve English, and drummer Steve Abbey, to adopt the more “metallic” Blitzkrieg moniker.
Many sparsely-attended pub gigs later, the group had saved enough money to finance a three-track demo that found some sympathetic ears at Neat Records, which promptly featured the song “Inferno” to their Lead Weight compilation, and offered Blitzkrieg a single deal, to boot.
And so, this seven-inch of A-side “Buried Alive” -- a mid-tempo doom groove topped by Ross’ piercing falsettos -- and B-side, “Blitzkrieg” -- a galloping, head-banging reworking of the prog-rock classic “Hocus Pocus,” by yodeling Dutchmen Focus! -- took their rightful place in heavy metal lore.
Yes, I may be exaggerating things a bit ... but the single did receive many positive reviews and Blitzkrieg got as far as recording a second, six-song demo called Blitzed Alive (because it was recorded at a gig supporting French hard rockers Trust), before growing internal friction tore them apart.
Ross would move on to front Newcastle’s Satan, which unleashed a N.W.O.B.H.M. gem of their own in 1983’s Court in the Act, before resurrecting Blitzkrieg with Sirotto and three new henchmen for ‘85’s perfectly respectable, late-arriving A Time of Changes.
The singer has been pulling double duty with both brands -- I mean, bands -- ever since, but of course nothing compares to the raw, youthful excitement conveyed by this unassuming single ... still an unequivocal thumbs-up!
More Blitzkrieg: A Time of Changes.