HOLOCAUST - The Nightcomers

“Second tier” bands of a musical movement complete the overall image and help one truly understand what the movement is all about. In the case of the NWOBHM, they are sometimes as interesting as the famous bands and illustrate the explosion of creativity during the period 1979-1981. Then, under the influence of punk, rock underground stopped taking as models the pompous compositions and extravagant productions of Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Yes and started to write direct, hard, fast and accessible songs, where passion in the performance mattered more than instrumental virtuosity, and sincerity in the voice more than the number of octaves.

And here we have the Scottish band Holocaust, who, like Diamond Head, Blitzkrieg and others, had a major influence on young Metallica – see the cover version The Small Hours from the second Holocaust album, Live (Hot Curry and Wine) of 1983. However, this is not what I want to talk about, but rather their most important album, The Nightcomers (1981). This album is a great illustration of the diversity that existed in the NWOBHM. In the case of Holocaust we have a dirty hard rock sound (in the vein of AC/DC of that time), distorted to the max, overlaid with some heavy Black Sabbath-inspired riffs and a voice like Iggy Pop. All these make The Nightcomers an album that, almost 30 years from its release, sounds surprisingly fresh, and has aged much better than the productions of contemporaries such as Def Leppard or Saxon. To make a joke, more or less, you sometimes get the feeling that you’re listening to the latest Darkthrone album played by Fu Manchu.

It is true that songs are one-dimensional, riffs a bit repetitive, and lyrics alternate between gothic and horror (“I have seen him die / Death I crucify / Revenge is fast - I know... / Pain is always slow” – Mavrock) and dumb and dumber (“I've got Heavy Metal music in my blood / And I'd like to give it to you if I could” -  Heavy Metal Mania). What really matters is the sound and how the songs are played. All the music on this album lies between dark heavy (Mavrock, The Nightcomers – see how similar is this piece in dynamics with tracks such as One or The day that never comes by Metallica, especially starting at 04:20) and some sort of punk-influenced hard rock, but as heavy (Smokin’ Valves, Come On Back, Push It Around, Cryin' Shame). I left Death or Glory and Heavy Metal Mania for the end, as they are the most important pieces on the record and at the same time, songs of reference for that period.

Gedi Nota: 9