Description

Reduced price due to seam split and ringwear

Original Neat England 1985 press

One of the New Wave of British Heavy Metals archetypal, no-hope underground bands, Black Rose endured a decade-long career for very little reward, notching the odd independent album contract here, the occasional one-off single deal there, but never translating them into anything remotely approaching consistency or success. 1985s Nightmare EP saw them signed to infamous Neat Records, and, though far from a disastrous outing, similarly failed to alter their fortunes. In fact, following the energetic opening title track’s tenuous nod to the N.W.O.B.H.M.’s indomitably raw attitude of old, the remaining three tracks saw Black Rose moving in a decidedly different direction — one that was surprisingly slick, and commercially structured to focus on choruses, not riffs. Sure enough, Need A Lot Of Lovin found them aping then contemporary American metal acts such as Y&T and Ratt (not Iron Maiden), Rock Me Hard was more reminiscent of Coney Hatch, and Breakaway saw them emulating Van Halen as covered by Night Ranger. Even so, it still might have worked — this being the 80s, after all — were it not for parent label Neat’s inability to properly record something requiring a little more studio sophistication.

Track list:
1. Nightmare
2. Need A Lot Of Lovin
3. Rock Me Hard
4. Breakaway