Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg emerged from the enduring passion of relentless frontman Brian Ross, ranking among a select few overlooked New Wave of British Heavy Metal outfits that might have slipped into musical history had Metallica not recorded a cover of one of their tracks. Ross established the group at the close of 1980 by entering the Leicestershire, England-based outfit Split Image and quickly persuading guitarists Jim Sirotto and Ian Jones, bassist Steve English, and drummer Steve Abbey to adopt the more metallic name. Within weeks the renamed Blitzkrieg completed a three-song demo that caught the ear of independent Neat Records, which placed the cut "Inferno" on their Lead Weight compilation. At the same time the label signed them for a single featuring the other two songs, resulting in 1981's "Buried Alive," whose B-side—an unabashed reinterpretation of the prog-rock staple "Hocus Pocus" by the yodeling Dutch ensemble Focus—would both define the band and secure its enduring reputation. The release proved enormously popular, prompting Blitzkrieg to prepare fresh material for a prospective album by spring, yet internal friction soon led to the departure of Jones and English, replaced by guitarist John Antcliffe and bassist Mick Moore. A second six-song demo titled Blitzed Alive was captured during a support slot for French hard rockers Trust and slated to support a debut full-length that never materialized, as the uncertain lineup dissolved by the end of the year.

Blitzkrieg's short career appeared finished as the musicians pursued separate paths, yet nearly four years afterward Ross, following spells with Avenger, Satan, and Lone Wolf, resolved to revive the project. Armed with Neat's standing offer to issue an album once it was recorded, he recalled Sirotto and Moore, then enlisted Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist Mick Proctor and Satan drummer Sean Taylor to revisit much of the band's earlier material on 1985's A Time of Changes. The effort arrived too late to gain traction, and even Metallica's recent cover of "Blitzkrieg" failed to generate sufficient momentum for the loosely assembled lineup. Undeterred, Ross spent the next several years assembling a stable roster, finally reactivating Blitzkrieg in 1991 with the release of the partly retrospective 10 Years of Blitzkrieg EP on Roadrunner. An album cobbled from archival and fresh tracks under the title Unholy Trinity was completed but delayed by contractual issues until 1995, at which point the group recognized the commercial value of touring NWOBHM-friendly European territories such as Germany and Greece. Sustained by this modest yet loyal following, Blitzkrieg continued with a revolving cast of supporting players behind Ross on releases including The Mists of Avalon (1998), Absolute Power (2003), Absolutely Live (2004), Sins and Greed (2005), and Theatre of the Damned (2007).

The band resurfaced in 2013 with Back from Hell, its first collection of original material in six years. Marking the group's 30th anniversary, they reissued A Time of Changes in 2015 with fresh recordings and two bonus tracks, "Too Wild to Tame" and "Jealous Love." A split single pairing "Reign of Fire" with "Judge Not" surfaced in early 2018 as an initial preview of the album Judge Not on Mighty Music. An EP titled Loud and Proud followed in December 2019.