TYGERS OF PAN TANG
“Bloodlines”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

Tygers Of Pan Tang are a heavy metal band from the UK formed in 1978, right at the start of the NWOBHM evolution. One of the era’s pioneering bands, Tygers Of Pan Tang have enjoyed a forty plus year career – surviving numerous line-up changes, and a hiatus or two! Led by founding member, (guitarist) Robb Weir, the band are as strong now as they have ever been, with ‘Bloodlines’ the bands thirteenth studio album.

The bands recent E.P. ‘A New Heartbeat’, displayed a renaissance for the Tygers, as Robb surrounded himself with a new line-up. The melodious direction of the E.P. is maintained on ‘Bloodlines’ – maybe even stronger – with ten highly infectious and unashamedly British sounding, traditional heavy metal romps! ‘Edge Of The World’ gets the album off to an atmospherically enticing start – the song building to a crescendo, eventually becoming a mid tempo mid paced gallop of “foot on the monitor” metal. The band don’t forget their metal roots, standing firmly and squarely in the heavy metal genre.

‘In My Blood’ builds on the opening salvo, displaying the familiar, and highly comforting, buzzing guitar tone of the iconic NWOBHM sound. The pulsating riff and thunderous drums are gonna make listeners, fans and followers drool with excitement! Having grown up during the eighties along with heavy metals development, I am truly in love with traditional heavy metal, with the Tygers just one of the many bands I grew up with. Picking up the pace, ‘Bloodlines’ roars on with the blistering ‘Fire On The Horizon’, ferociously banging heads very hard! The band are at full tilt here, pounding the ground with purpose, intent, fire and brimstone. Simply sensational! The energy level is off the fucking charts, the band adopting the more mid tempo melodious stomp for ‘Light Of Hope’ – the intensity remaining up front and in your face, the heaviness at just the right amount of heavy! This is melodic heavy metal at its finest – and we’re not even half way through the album yet!

There’s so much more to come – so strap yourselves in and let’s surge on! ‘Back For Good’ maintains the steady stomp of the previous song, yet raises the bombastic barrage to new heights. Hitting harder than world champion heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson in his prime – ‘Back For Good’ is an unrelenting heavy metal onslaught! With a sharp slow down of pace, power and intensity, ‘Taste Of Love’ takes on the mantle of an incoming ballad – with regular readers knowing how I feel about ballads appearing on metal albums! They shouldn’t – plain and simple! Ballads are for rock albums, not metal ones – but there are the odd exceptions! And I’ll give the Tygers a pass here, for ‘Taste Of Love’ is one of the heaviest ballad-like songs I think I’ve ever heard! Yes you’re able to sway from side to side, but methinks there’s so much power and energy flowing from ‘Taste Of Love’, that any lighters held high will immediately have their flame blown out! Returning to bombastic heavy metal though, ‘Bloodlines’ surges with oomph and oof, ‘Kiss The Sky’ stepping on the gas, planting one foot firmly on the monitor and trotting on to a conclusion.

And once more the glorious guitar tone of the NWOBHM evolution takes centre stage, the band pounding hard with an increased level of intensity – ‘Believe’ the hardest hitting song heard so far. Batten down the hatches and prepare for a severe battering of heavy metal from the dogged stalwarts of British heavy metal. ‘A New Heartbeat’ – taken from the bands E.P. of the same name released in 2022 – is an energetic and melodious, traditional heavy metal gallop. The bombastic nature is sky high, the Tygers delivering an infectious and catchy old school number to please. Bringing the album to a close, ‘Making All The Rules’ is a mellower offering, but not mellow enough to land in ballad territory. Hell no! The band are majestic here, giving the listener a breather from the intense barrage of metal that has just been served up!

Overall, a bombastic and pulsating album of infectious traditional heavy metal from one of the genres pioneering bands.

TRACKLIST

Edge Of The World
In My Blood
Fire On The Horizon
Light Of Hope
Back For Good
Taste Of Love
Kiss The Sky
Believe
A New Heartbeat
Making All The Rules

https://www.tygersofpantang.com/
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