Tygers of Pan Tang
s/t

What is it with metal bands and misspelling? Here is another one of those bands who cannot spell, and they have been misspelling for a long time considering that they have been releasing albums since 1980. This time they release a self-titled album with a rather fantastic artwork; it has a lot of bite and sharp claws. And when the opening track starts rocking you are ready to salute this album and raise the band to the skies, I was thinking five, maybe even six points when I heard that first track.

But then you sort of calm down and the album looses those points of praise the further it plays on and in the end you have a heavy metal album that feels rather average but has a fantastic artwork and amazing opening track. But before moving through that I should point out that this sounds really good, the production is excellent and they have a decent vocalist as well – the songs are just not quite up to the task of making the best of this rather excellent production.

Did they focus on just making one outstanding song and then they were out of great songs for this year? Or were they just lazy after hitting that one great hit song and filled the rest of the album with decent but ultimately rather average tracks? Whatever the reason I don’t quite think this album lives up to what it promises with its great cover and fantastic opening track, perhaps it is only for the brave but I think the album lacks bite and maybe the tigers have lost their stripes? Not that I really know them, this might actually be the album of theirs that I like best.

If I had bigger financial resources I would probably buy this album just for its cover, but I don’t have that money to waste on a pretty picture so it is not really for me. And in the end I would claim that it is an album that is slightly above average mostly thanks to that fantastic opening track.

HHHHHHH