Mystery Blue

Strasbourg’s Mystery Blue emerged in 1982 as one of the scant French heavy metal acts to register even modest international notice during the 1980s. Singer Michel Torres, guitarists Francis “Frenzy” Phillipon and Yvan Bailbled, bassist Patrick Faller, and drummer Jean-Marc Gogel formed the original lineup. France’s Axe Killer label issued the band’s self-titled debut in 1984, after which Mystery Blue supported Motörhead, Saxon, and Def Leppard across several European countries. Sluggish sales prompted the label to drop the group, and the 1986 album Circle of Shame, released on the obscure Dream Records imprint, preceded an apparent permanent split. Roughly ten years afterward, guitarist Philippon resurrected the name and assembled an entirely new roster—female vocalist Nathalie Geyer, bassist Danny Ohlmann, and drummer Ricky Gassler—to deliver the 1998 return album Spirit of Your Song. Five more years of inactivity followed before Mystery Blue resurfaced in the new millennium, first with Metal Slaves in 2003, which introduced drummer Vince Koehler, and then with Claws of Steel in 2006, now featuring bassist Rikki Mannhard. Throughout these later efforts the band retained its allegiance to traditional metal foundations while incorporating a contemporary power-metal sheen, an approach that set the group apart chiefly through Geyer’s flamboyant vocal style.