Tygers Of Pan Tang

These are the two albums the reformed band made in the mid-eighties.
Originally a part of the New Wave Of British Heavy metal (NWOBHM) along with Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Saxon, Sargeant and others and they had some success at the beginning of the eighties, before splitting in 1982. The lineup for these two albums was: Jon Deverill (vocals) and Brian Dick (drums) with Steve Lamb (formerly of Sergeant) on guitar, Neil Sheppard on guitar, and ex-Warrior, ex-Satan member Clin Irwin on bass. Dave Donaldson later replaced Clin Irwin.

What is presented here is, at heart, melodic metal with a bright, drum heavy, sound. Two albums that immediately shout out mid-eighties ‘poodle-rock’ but there is some undeniably good playing and more good tracks than weak. ‘Desert Of No Love’ has a couple of fine solos as well very prog-like changes in tempo and chord while ‘Women In Cages’ could be a Duran Duran track if it weren’t sitting alongside ‘The Wreck-Age’ which is probably the hardest number on the first of the two albums.

‘Burning In the Shade’ was less successful than ‘Wreck-Age’ but at a distance from its original release, it is a pretty good album. Still bright and drum-heavy, the songwriting is good and the production is pretty lively.

The CD of demos are fascinating, showing the different directions the music could have taken.