MORE – Warhead [Wounded Bird Records CD reissue]

As many of you aren’t happy at all with the Rock Candy remasters of MORE‘s albums featured here few days ago, now we have the Wounded Bird Records releases which are not specified if received a remastering, but let me tell you both CD sound excellent.
Based in London, while pretty much hard rockin’ in style MORE’s roots actually lay in the very same avenues and alleyways frequented by Iron Maiden. Indeed, vocalist Paul Mario Day had been – alongside Steve Harris – a member of a pre Iron Maiden outfit.
Both went their separate ways, of course, with Day reappearing as front man for MORE, a ball-busting rough and tumble five piece with a volatile two guitar line-up laying waste to a bunch of catchy hooks.

Signed to Atlantic Records, ”Warhead” was originally issued in 1981 and produced by none other than Henry ‘H-Bomb’ Weck, leader of seventies cult US hard rock combo Brownsville Station (‘Smokin’ In The Boys Room’), the album features a fine selection of tracks primarily designed to bludgeon the listener into boot-licking compliance. Fortunately it’s a game they won hands down.

Definitely large traces of classic metal to be found on the title track, fast crunchy riffage and the nuclear war lyrics to boot, one of the strongest cuts along with the excellently done ‘Fire’, another heavy cut which kicks total ass via a simple yet catchy riffage intertwined with excellent vocal catchiness definitely likely to draw comparisons to Samson.
Then there’s a cool mixture of driving riffs and great poppy melodies on ‘We are the Band’, sporting some Thin Lizzy-ish vibes.

A sorely underrated band with a sound derived just as much from bluesy hard rock as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, More had polish and basic song structures that made the group much more accessible than many of its counterparts.

Simply put, the band just flat-out rocks, taking tight grooves and crunchy power chord riffs and placing them all over guitarist/lead singer Kenny Cox’s blues-infused guitar shredding, which obviously owes considerable debt to Jimmy Page.
It’s a peculiarly strong debut from an unrepeatable era.
Highly Recommended

01 – Warhead
02 – Fire
03 – Soldier
04 – Depression
05 – Road Rocket
06 – Lord Of Twilight
07 – Way Of The World
08 – We Are The Band
09 – I Have No Answers

Paul Mario Day – Vocals
Kenny Cox – Guitars
Laurie Mansworth – Guitars
Brian Day – Bass
Frank Darch – Drums

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www.amazon.com/Warhead-More/dp/B0009Y26JK