Kingdom Come

Sir Lord Baltimore doesn't get a lot of credit when it comes to 70s trad. It seems like there's a weird dichotomy. There are two types of 70s heavy metal band: the Sabbath-esques and the Budgie-esques. If you went on to be really influential after the 70s like Judas Priest or Motorhead or Black Sabbath (or Rainbow, who didn't actually do anything meaningful after 78 but got away with it because they eventually helped birth power metal), you get remembered as a major 70s band, someone whose material should be remembered and enjoyed by all metal fans. But if your influence was largely felt immediately rather than later on, like Budgie or Buffalo or Scorpions (who only escaped irrelevance by leaving the genre altogether), people just kinda forgot you existed right after the 80s hit and there were more than 3 metal bands doing anything notable at any given time. That seems unfair to me, because while these bands may not have spent decades making influential music, they were vital to the development of the genre. And of those Budgie-esques, one of the most hard-done has to be Sir Lord Baltimore, one of the earliest metal bands.

Kingdom Come is pretty astounding for just how ahead of the curve it is. For the first three years of metal's existence, basically the only bands are Black Sabbath, Budgie, and Sir Lord Baltimore. And while you have to wait until 1973 and the release of Buffalo's Volcanic Rock for anyone else to catch on to what Sabbath is doing, Sir Lord Baltimore's debut picked up on it and replicated it fantastically right away. Melding the heavy bluesy riffing of Sabbath's first two albums with dynamite Zepplin-esque guitarwork, Kingdom Come is a fiery debut that really helps sell this new "heavy metal" genre. In fact, a review of it in Creem Magazine might just be the single moment where the genre heavy metal got its name. That's how important it is.

There is absolutely no question whatsoever that Sir Lord Baltimore lives and dies by the strength of guitarist Louis Dambra, who is hands down one of the best guitarists of the entire decade and deserves your fucking respect. His bluesy Page-esque freakouts are essential to the sound, and basically every highlight on here exhibits a monster riff, nutty soloing, or both. Hell Hound is my favourite - if you can help whipping your head around and losing your mind when you hear that bluesy twang you're a hell of a lot stronger than I am.

Not to say the rest of the album isn't interesting - John Garner's drumming is pretty ace, especially considering that he dual wields drumming and vocal duties. And those vocals, while a little spotty, are energetic and driving, at times reminding me of Arthur Brown. The bass work is also upbeat and melodic, often serving as the riffing bass for Dambra's shredding. The actual songwriting isn't all that standout; it's clearly influenced by both Sabbath and Zepp, but they haven't really picked up on the expert sense of tension those bands had, so don't expect any particularly great payoffs or anything like that. If you don't like riffs, you're not going to get much out of this record.

I think the thing I admire most about Sir Lord Baltimore is their commitment to energy. There is very little in the entire rest of 70s metal that is this bouncy and hyped up. Everyone involved was clearly having an absolute blast, and that energy transfers to the record in a big way. I really wish these guys would get more credit (like all the other influential 70s metal bands that got left behind), and I really hope this album gets some more attention from the greater metal community because it's some quality stuff.