HIGH TREASON
Continuing to expand their range of vinyl editions for already released albums on their label, 3MS Music have now given High Treason’s ‘Silver Bullets’ the royally retro treatment on this ever burgeoning comeback format. Like Tokyo Blade’s ‘Unbroken’, which was released in July this year, the initial run of the album’s vinyl counterpart is limited to 500. Unlike ‘Unbroken’, it seems 3MS have included the full track list from the CD version that came out back in April. All 10 tracks are present. Tokyo Blade’s vinyl edition? Only 8 out of the 11 tracks inexplicably made it on, with further confusion for lyrics printed on the inner sleeve, which accounted for 10 tracks. ‘Unbroken’? More like ‘Broken’ for that one. My review copy seemed to be the final product, so it was a bizarre glitch. No such shenanigans here, so High Treason fans can rest assured that this is the full whack.
And it’s a gloriously analogue whack of retro NWOBHM bliss, in a glorious package, with a sturdy outer sleeve housing a full colour, inner sleeve, featuring full fantastic artwork on one side, and lyrics on the other. There’s something nicely ritualistic and nostalgically gratifying about gently sliding a piece of shiny 12” vinyl out of its sleeve, that brings a smile to my face each and every time, before I even place it on a turntable. And the turntable experience brings its own sense of joy, with the analogue format serving this NWOBHM styled outing well. Vinyl was made for this sort of thing, to convey a warmth in the audio that CDs and other digital formats just fail to replicate. And, a band like High Treason, still styling their music around their brief late-70s, early-80s (although hardly prolific on the recording front back then) NWOBHM impetus, their music is always going to have an even more retro edge when digested via vinyl.
Musically, High Treason’s NWOBHM stylings tread that fine line between hard rock and classic metal, with a ton of melody à la UFO et al. Nothing ground-breaking here, but that’s not, and was never, the point. This is a bunch of guys (albeit with a revised lineup since their early years) having fun with the music they so evidently adore. If I’m being honest, there are better bands plying their retro NWOBHM wares within the current scene, although ‘Silver Bullets’ still scores a more than respectable 7.5/10 from me, and it’s a solid 10/10 for this rather lovely vinyl edition.
And it’s a gloriously analogue whack of retro NWOBHM bliss, in a glorious package, with a sturdy outer sleeve housing a full colour, inner sleeve, featuring full fantastic artwork on one side, and lyrics on the other. There’s something nicely ritualistic and nostalgically gratifying about gently sliding a piece of shiny 12” vinyl out of its sleeve, that brings a smile to my face each and every time, before I even place it on a turntable. And the turntable experience brings its own sense of joy, with the analogue format serving this NWOBHM styled outing well. Vinyl was made for this sort of thing, to convey a warmth in the audio that CDs and other digital formats just fail to replicate. And, a band like High Treason, still styling their music around their brief late-70s, early-80s (although hardly prolific on the recording front back then) NWOBHM impetus, their music is always going to have an even more retro edge when digested via vinyl.
Musically, High Treason’s NWOBHM stylings tread that fine line between hard rock and classic metal, with a ton of melody à la UFO et al. Nothing ground-breaking here, but that’s not, and was never, the point. This is a bunch of guys (albeit with a revised lineup since their early years) having fun with the music they so evidently adore. If I’m being honest, there are better bands plying their retro NWOBHM wares within the current scene, although ‘Silver Bullets’ still scores a more than respectable 7.5/10 from me, and it’s a solid 10/10 for this rather lovely vinyl edition.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
3MS Music
Vinyl
SILVER BULLETS (VINYL REISSUE)
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
-
RELEASE DATE:
23rd August 2019
TRACK LISTING
1) Silver Bullets
2) Locked Outside
3) Ride Into The Storm
4) Day I Return
5) One Way Life
6) Spanish Eyes
7) Temptation
8) Crosshairs
9) Surviving Your Love
10) Talked Me Down
2) Locked Outside
3) Ride Into The Storm
4) Day I Return
5) One Way Life
6) Spanish Eyes
7) Temptation
8) Crosshairs
9) Surviving Your Love
10) Talked Me Down
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"...a gloriously analogue whack of retro NWOBHM bliss..."
