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Review: 'Various'
'The Bristol Heavy Rock Explosion'   

-  Album: 'The Bristol Heavy Rock Explosion' -  Label: 'Bristol Archive Records'
-  Genre: 'Rock' -  Release Date: '11th November 2016'

Our Rating:
History is not fixed: facts only exist in their interpretation and retelling. Events deemed less integral to the overall narrative are overlooked, glossed over – and the precise shape of the overall narrative is determined by the narrator and therefore necessarily is subject to bias. When it comes to the Bristol scene, its rock heritage has been all but written out of history.

Bristol Archive Records are working hard to redress the balance through an ongoing excavation of the archives to reinstate hard rock in the Bristol story. Following the release of the ‘lost’ album by NWOBHM also-rans Stormtrooper (who have a track, ‘In the State in the City’, featured here), this compilation spans almost 25 years of Bristol’s underground musical history. ‘The Bristol Heavy Rock Explosion’ threads a new narrative, and showcases some seventeen bands, all virtually unknown beyond their locale, long-lost and largely long-forgotten, with evocative names like Magic Muscle, Onslaught, and Stampede.

Lautrec open the album with ‘Mean Gasoline’ and land somewhere between AC/DC and Mötörhead, with a hefty bassline driving it along nicely. Not all of the featured artists are strictly heavy or hard rock, and it’s predictably a mixed bag. Claytown Troupe are the only band on the album who really broke out and enjoyed any kind of career. Their track, ‘Hey Lord’ is ok, but it’s pure Cult.

Some tracks simply scream ‘hair’ and ‘spandex’ and there are some real prog-rock cringers which sound extremely dated. But then, that’s how it goes when reviewing historical works: the changes in style and culture are placed into sharp relief, but equally, it’s possible to appreciate the extent to which history repeats itself.

The Bristol Heavy Rock Explosion Bandcamp

  author: Christopher Nosnibor

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Various - The Bristol Heavy Rock Explosion