IRON ANGEL - Winds Of War LP (Black Vinyl)

Although the reason why I decided to revisit Iron Angel’s back catalogue some ten years ago was the release of the awful “Back from Hell” demo, about which the guys should forget faster than Destruction did about their mid-90’s period (yeah, it’s that bad), I was quite glad that I did since it reminded me of how jubilant I was listening to this happy-go-lucky speed metal barrage on the album reviewed here in my teenage years, feeling also content with the fact that I had found “Walls of Jericho”’s little brother, only served with a more mainstream flavour. Although the guys were the first German victims of the mid-80’s transformation campaign (Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, etc.) towards a mellower poppier sound, they still managed to retain quite a bit of their aggressive swagger that made their debut such a compulsive headbanging fest.