Description
2017 re-issue with different cover artwork
Among the countless second and third tier talents to emerge from the amazingly prolific New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, Tyneside’s Fist are as deserving as any of the posthumous anthology treatment. Unfortunately, due to various licensing issues pertaining to different labels owning the Fist catalog, Back With a Vengeance: The Anthology (not to be confused with Fist’s second studio album, also named Back With a Vengeance) lacks the sort of cohesion and completion displayed by other excellent Sanctuary/Neat collections of obscure N.W.O.B.H.M. talent. Therefore, any attempts at chronology are summarily jettisoned here in favour of a rather more confusing, but altogether sensible, sequencing on both of these two discs. As such, disc one brings together all of their official Neat recordings (a melodic hard rock/heavy metal hybrid reminiscent of label mates Tygers of Pan Tang): starting with their first single, 1978’s ‘S.S. Giro’ (recorded when they were still using the name Axe, and famously featured in 1999’s Lars Ulrich-compiled New Wave of British Heavy Metal ’79 Revisited album); moving through other important singles (‘Name, Rank, and Serial Number’) and B-sides (‘Throwing in the Towel’ etc.); and diving right into the second album, 1982’s pretty solid ‘Back With a Vengeance’ in its entirety, before polishing off their single cover rendition of ‘The Wanderer’. Disc two is less consistent but conversely brims with astounding rarities: beginning with the rock-solid ‘Brain Damage’ (an unspecified version of the song featured in MCA’s Brute Force compilation); proceeding through eight demo versions of first album tracks and outtakes; unearthing two further obscurities from those 1978 Axe sessions; and finally wrapping up its 19 tracks with an assortment of slim pickings, which, for every loser like ‘Where Are They’ (a hopelessly out of place reggae number in the style of the Police), scores yet another unexpected winner such as ‘See the Devil Rise’ (once again, a second album demo take). In summary, Back With a Vengeance: The Anthology arguably takes a complicated discography and complicates it even further; but, in a clear-cut case of ‘mission impossible’, it’s likely about as good as one could hope for discovering the small heavy metal treasure that is Fist.
Track listing:
1. SS Giro-original Axe version-from the Lead Weight compilation
2. Name Rank and Serial Number-single version
3. You’ll Never Get Me Up (In One of Those)-single version
4. Throwing In The Towel-from the Lead Weight compilation
5. Turn The Hell On-from Back With A Vengeance album
6. S.S. Giro-from Back With A Vengeance album
7. Too Hot-from Back With A Vengeance album
8. Lost And Found-from Back With A Vengeance album
9. The Feeling’s Right-from Back With A Vengeance album
10. Dog Soldier-from Back With A Vengeance album
11. All I Can Do-from Back With A Vengeance album
12. Devil Rise-from Back With A Vengeance album
13. Going Wild Tonight-from Back With A Vengeance album
14. The Wanderer-single version
15. Brain Damage-alternative version-from Brute Force compilation album
16. One Percenter-alternative version-from Brute Force compilation album
17. Vamp-unreleased alternative version
18. Hole In The Wall Gang-unreleased alternative version
19. Axeman-unreleased alternative version
20. Forever Amber-unreleased alternative version
21. Watcher-unreleased alternative version
22. Terminus-unreleased track
23. Gone Without A Trace-unreleased track
24. Collision Course-Axe session 1978
25. Same Time Same Place-Axe session 1978
26. Roll It-unreleased track
27. Pumping Iron-unreleased track
28. Give It All Back-unreleased track
29. Left Standing Again-unreleased track
30. Where They Are-unreleased track
31. Dog Soldier-rough version
32. See The Devil Rise-demo
33. Law Of The Jungle-rough version