Young Blood

Chateaux –Young Blood

This is pretty much the finest NWOBHM single I can think of right now (bar Grim Reaper and Maiden’s efforts – which if you’ve you read my reviews – I don’t really regard as NWOBHM). I mean, don’t get me wrong – they were clearly ‘in’ that movement, but what they done with their sound and power is something that’s kinda beyond NWOBHM in my ears (For more on this, see my review of Chateaux’s second album – ‘Fire Power’). Back to my point – this is perhaps one of the strongest true NWOBHM singles ever released, for several reasons – largely, this concerns the heavy and very, very ‘metal’ nature of the two tracks on this overlooked piece of metal history. This disc contains two very heavy songs for the time – songs that exemplify 80’s heavy metal in their thick, deep sound which is given powerful emotion by the epic vocals of Steve Grimmett, (who also had fingers in the aforementioned ‘Reaper and the lesser known Medusa pies). An excellent example of heavy metal’s progression from the simplistic, rock n roll/Led Zeppelin overtures of the bluesy late 70’s and ‘80-’81 sound, which is dumped in favour of heavy hitting aggression.

‘Young Blood’ – with it’s AC-DC ish title, might lead you to think it’s another played out, Van Halenish number, focusing on a fixation on young lusty groupies like thousands before it – even at this early date. However, you couldn’t be further from the truth – this powerful, haunting epic tackles deep subject matter (as does the B-side), about the spawn of Satan exercising his wrath. Very fucking evil stuff coming to the centre here, with true power metal lyricry in “Shining Swords, Slicing through – the screaming hordes” and “Spawn of the Deviiiiiiil!” being just some excerpts. This one starts out with your typical dreary Sabbath influenced guitar picking and complimentary bass structure, with some ‘sad’ leads playing over the top. After a while we get a sad, melancholic and nostalgia verse delivered by Grimmett – who is more on form than in his recent works with Medusa. He closes out this spectacular intro section with the spine chilling mid level vocal “on the battlefields of heeeeeeeeell!” before a supremely menacing proto-thrash kicks in – definitely has similitude to Savatage’s early, rawer shit – fantastic. Absolutely awesome battle lyrics with satanic connotations which could NOT be any more metal. The low turned nature of the guitars, and depressive, melancholy tone in particularly the slow voices owes a bit to Sabbath I think – but is just a phenomenal combination making for an excellent song. I can’t believe this came out in 1982! Amazing!

The even cooler ‘Fight to the Last’ is actually similar in subject matter – your classic, medieval battle anthem, which has a phenomenally hooky chorus – a fucking thrilling fist pumping number that makes use of excellent gang vocals – perhaps one of the most fist shaking, shout along moments in metal. Of particular interest in this one, is the fact that it is actually a rudimentary version of a song Grimmett would go on to write and perform with Grim Reaper – a track called ‘Fight for the Last’ released on their 1985 sophomore effort ‘Fear No Evil’. This is something Grimmett has done before – recording a song with Medusa called ‘Ripper’s Delight’ – with an eerily similar subject matter being tackled in the Grim Reaper number ‘Wrath of the Ripper (a favourite from their 1983 debut). This is an interesting curiosity (well at least it is if you are me, with both songs being great and having no obvious reasons for re-working – maybe Grimmett wasn’t satisfied with the guitar arrangements in them, and decided to re-work them more in his preference with different bands – I wish I could ask him). Anyway, this one is a pumping European power metal number, delivered with the utmost passion – Grimmett having “solid as a rock” screams delivered in his powerful melodic false-seto. Riffage is absolutely heavy as anything and as proto thrash as you can get – with sonic leadwork coming out in full force, much like the marauding armies in the subject matter. Everything in this track is great in my books. Seems like one of the heaviest NWOBHM releases of the time – up there with Venom, and heavier than Saxon, basically taking the preceding couple of years of NWOBHM and really stepping it up in a phenomenal track that’s very much in the vein of what Grim Reaper would come out with.

While the album released a year or so later (with Grimmett still on board) was strong, it’s probably equalled by the other Chateaux full-lengths, which are impressive themselves. This tough as nails single though, may be one of their finest efforts, having less of the fluff featured in small quantities on the ‘Chained and Desperate’ release and none of the slightly more upbeat tinges of the latter two LPs. What we have here is an excellent example of the evolution of heavy metal, heavy, low and loud with battle imagery and a frontman among the best to grace the microphone. Among the best NWOBHM singles.

-DeathRiderDoom