Description

Along with other acts such as Raven, Satan, Jaguar and Blitzkrieg, Mythra from the North East of England might as well bee seen as indirect forerunners of American speed metal outfits such as Exodus, Metallica and Slayer. In contrast to other groups from the North East active around the same time, for example Axe, who later turned into Fist, Vince High and his boys did show precious few similarities with seventies bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. Mythra’s sound was geared towards the future of metal, not re-visiting past hard rock glories. Mythra were originally formed in South Shields in county Durham in 1978. Their “Death And Destiny” EP was originally issued in 1979 by Guardian Records (based in Pity-Me near Durham), and re-pressed by Street Beat Records a year later. Combined sales were rumoured to have reached the incredible mark of 20,000 copies. However, due to mismanagement no follow-up singles and no Mythra album was ever issued. In February 2015, Mythra celebrated their comeback appearing live at Newcastle’s legendary Brofest. This was followed by the release of “Warriors Of Time”, the ultimate Mythra anthology containing all the band’s studio recordings plus five new songs written by the current band and recorded in June/July 2015. It seemed to be only a matter of time until Mythra would come up with a brand new studio album. And indeed it was Vince High (vocals), Maurice Bates (bass), John Roach (guitar), Alex Perry (guitar) and Phil Davies (drums) who recorded “Still Burning” in October 2016. Technically speaking, “Still Burning” is the band’s debut album. “Yeah, that’s right,” laughs vocalist Vince High. “It’s the first time the band has gone into the studio and recorded a complete album all in one go”. Unlike a lot of NWOBHM bands, Mythra have reformed with mostly original members. “Phil is the only one who wasn’t involved with the band first time around,” explains Vince High. “Maurice and I are the ‘ever presents’ and have been members of Mythra throughout. John left the band after we recorded the »Death And Destiny« EP in 1979 and was replaced by Mick Rundle. Mick played lead guitar on most of the tracks on what became the »Death And Destiny« album. Alex joined us after Mick’s departure at the end of 1980. Line-up changes aside, we regard the four of us as being original members as we were all involved in the early days.” “Still Burning” sounds like an autobiographical album title, so are Mythra still burning to make music and get out on that stage…? “Absolutely,” is Vince’s answer. “The words I wrote for the very first verse on our title track sums it all up: ‘Flame still burning, fever strong, temperature rising, can’t be wrong, rhythm pounding, defining the song, live the moment, sing along.’” Not many NWOBHM bands are very successful at recording a striking new studio album after so many years. But with “Still Burning” Mythra recorded a very strong record, it’s old school traditional metal but not sounding dated at all… “You have summed up perfectly what we were hoping to achieve with the new album,” smiles Vince High. “We wanted the ‘all killer, no filler’ approach: strong songs that stay true to our metal roots, but with a high quality, contemporary sound.

Track list:
1. Still Burning
2. A Call to All
3. That Special Feeling
4. Ride the Storm
5. Survival
6. Battle Cry
7. Silence in the Sirens
8. Sands of Time
9. Victory Song
10. We Belong
11. Fundamental Extreme