Jag Panzer
Decade Of The Nail-spiked Bat

THE REVIEW

Authentic heroes of the American metallic underground, Jag Panzer have never received the recognition they deserved. Starting in the very early 80s from the state of Colorado, their career has been anything but steady, marked by breakups, reunions, and departures, yet always defined by the purest and most unadulterated heavy metal. Alongside other big names like Helstar and Vicious Rumors, they laid the groundwork for what is today commonly referred to as American power metal, distinctly different from its European, especially German, cousin. While Helloween and others built illustrious careers over the years focusing on virtuosity, speed, and melodies, the power metal on the other side of the ocean was characterized by tight rhythms, powerful riffs, and commanding vocals that paid the right tribute to the maestros Judas Priest. Despite their extensive discography, Jag Panzer are mostly cited for their debut album, that "Ample Destruction" from 1984, which was a small metal success at the time and pointed the way for an American approach to heavy metal. Paradoxically, over the years the band has encountered numerous difficulties in reissuing that particular record, mainly due to incomprehensible bans imposed by guitarist Joey Tafolla, who was the lead guitarist at the time alongside mainstay Mark Briody. The desire to make that material available again and the fact that it was, at least in its genre, a classic, pushed the band to re-record much of those tracks, overcoming a deadlock situation that seemed impossible to escape. "Decade Of The Nail-spiked Bat", released in 2003, presents itself as a double CD that re-proposes the best of the early repertoire of the American quintet, all united with some old demos finally given an official release and a few other gems. The cover itself that introduces the work clearly indicates the attitude of the project: it is in fact the painting prepared at the time for the second album of the group, that follow-up to "Ample Destruction" which, at the time, never saw the light of day, with Jag Panzer disbanding shortly after. "Reign Of The Tyrants" immediately retrieves one of the band's oldest tracks and fully represents their style: a solid and powerful power metal, with a strong rhythm section and vocals indebted to voices like Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson, thus, as already explained, far removed from that European power metal full of choruses and melodies that would flourish ten years later. Considering the compilation in question features very dated material, it's normal that, on several occasions, you can hear tracks written by young musicians who did not yet have a well-defined style and who, in many moments, betray the influences of the period. If "Eyes Of The Night" pays the rightful tribute to Dio's Rainbow, "Metal Melts The Ice" recalls certain heavier Judas Priest tracks. "Decade Of The Nail-spiked Bat" doesn’t miss the opportunity to reinterpret more than one track ("The Church", "Spirit Suicide") from that "Dissident Alliance" from 1994, which was unequivocally panned at the time. While the final result is more than good, thus showing that even on that record there were evidently several interesting cues, Mark Briody himself, in the comments within the booklet, explains how often the tracks that ended up on that album were far from what the initial ideas were, evident signs that, years later, even Jag Panzer themselves were not satisfied with the finished work and how those pieces needed to be reworked. In addition to a few lesser-known songs revisited for the occasion ("Forsaken", "She Waits"), however, it becomes clear that the ultimate purpose of this anthology was to make the early tracks available again and in fact, looking at the tracklist, the EP "Tyrants" and the historic "Ample Destruction" are practically present in their entirety. The production is good, clean enough to highlight the individual musicians, just as the inner booklet is really rich in information. A work like this "Decade Of The Nail-spiked Bat", by necessity, is aimed at two very specific types of listeners, namely the most ardent fans, who own the original albums but are keen to hear these reinterpretations, and the novices, giving them the chance to start with a selection of the most representative tracks from the group's first ten years, with the hope, of course, that they will go on to discover the remaining chapters of this historic American metal band’s journey.

Jag Panzer:

• Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin, vocals
• Rikard Stjernquist, drums
• John Tetley, bass
• Chris Broderick, guitars and keyboards
• Mark Briody, guitars

Disc 1

1. Reign Of The Tyrants
2. Eyes Of The Night
3. The Church
4. Metal Melts The Ice
5. Forsaken
6. Fallen Angel
7. Battle Zones
8. Warfare
9. Tower Of Darkness
10. Licensed To Kill

Disc 2

1. Generally Hostile
2. The Watching
3. She Waits
4. Edge Of Blindness
5. Spirit Suicide
6. Iron Shadows
7. Black Sunday
8. Symphony Of Terror
9. Death Row
10. The Crucifix