Description
Double album on clear vinyls with gatefold cover. Limited 250 copies
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 and whose Name, Rank And Serial number was covered by Mythra in the very early days, 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. So would it be fair to say that Mythra belonged to the same school within the NWOBHM as Jaguar, Raven, Satan and Blitzkrieg? A lot of critics do view them as true originators of proto-speed metal. Wow, great bands one and all, comments original singer Vince High. Raven and ourselves were gigging around our local region of North East England at the same time in the late 1970s. Those Gallagher bros were special even then and it’s fantastic to see what John and Mark (along with band mate Joe of course) have achieved in their 40 year career. Jaguar, Satan and Blitzkrieg came along slightly later but yes, for sure, all the great NWOBHM bands you mention were and are once again delivering quality metal. Whether or not Mythra was proto-speed metal however is, I guess, for the fans to decide. Mythra were originally formed in South Shields in county Durham in 1978. Vince High takes over the story: “Yes, our sets were made up of covers by amongst others Black Sabbath, UFO and Scorpions plus our own original material which went down a storm and led to us entering the studio to record our first EP, Death And Destiny, who were rumoured to have reached the incredible mark of 20,000 copies. The original intention was to release two further singles plus an album but for reasons unknown to the band no follow-up recordings were issued despite the fact the studio recordings had been completed and were available. With the double album Warriors Of Time we finally see the ultimate Mythra anthology. The album has taken quite a long time to evolve. Was it worth the long wait after all? Definitely, answers Vince High. It’s the ultimate Mythra collection of songs. It features all of the band’s studio recordings from 1979 to 1981 including the self financed four tracks from our popular Death And Destiny EP.
As a special treat Warriors Of Time contains five tracks that were written and recorded in June/July 2015. Following on from our appearance at Brofest UK we were totally blown away by the incredible reaction from the fans, many of whom had traveled from across Europe with some even further afield from the USA and South America. We wanted to give them something new as a thank you for their incredible support and so we recorded some new music to include as bonus tracks on the anthology album. We think we have stayed true to the spirit of the NWOBHM with the new songs as they have the energy and power of that era including great riffs and of course our twin guitar attack.
Track list:
1. Heaven Lies Above
2. New Life
3. U.F.O.
4. Warrior of Time
5. Vicious Bastard
6. At Least I Tried
7. Together Forever
8. Machine
9. Killer
10. England
11. WASA
12. Overlord
13. Death And Destiny
14. Reaching Out
15. The Best Is Yet To Come
16. You
17. Face In The Mirror
18. Faith, Fate, Hate