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Holy Grail/Revoker London, Camden Barfly

From page 98 of Classic Rock Magazine June 2011

Cover of June 2011 issue.

Upcoming NWOBHM revivalists.

1980 is the gigantic swinging cock of heavy metal

– the year it all happened: British Steel, Ace Of Spades, Iron Maiden , and the list goes on, casting its monumental phallic shadow over every year since right up to a Monday night here, when Pasadena’s Holy Grail take the stage and, in a frenzy of denim and leather-clad bravado conjure the NWOBHM riffage of yore in a sweaty feat of historic re-enactment.

It isn’t lost on the crowd either, who’ve packed this venue to bang heads, spill beer, and throw horns to ferocious melodies that are part and parcel of the New Wave Of Trad Metal, a musical undercurrent seeing a panoply of young bands born long after 1980 summoning the machine-gun gallop of their forefathers. Holy Grail are, undeniably, one of the best – singer James’s banshee theatrics piercing the howitzer-din of riffage in a crushing set that leaves their devotees spent and dwindling by the time Welsh bruisers Revoker appear to dole out a blitzkrieg that for all its bluster has some way to go before bringing the roof down. It’s a colossally heavy brew, full of promise and deafening self-belief, but tonight undeniably belongs to the old school, fresh-faced as they may be. Alexander Milas