If you’re reading this, chances are you’ll already know the background to Leicester’s Blitzkrieg, a band who in the space of just over a year captured both the imagination of fans of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and the movement’s very zeitgeist. Hooking up with vocalist Brian Ross put the last piece of an expansive jigsaw in place, and the period from November 1980 to the band’s unfortunate split in December 1981 saw the release of two highly regarded cassettes (their first demo, and a six-track live tape which showcased the band in their element), a 7” single ‘Buried Alive’ b/w ‘Blitzkrieg’ (one of the finest singles Neat Records ever issued) and a live-in-the-studio version of ‘Inferno’ which appeared on Neat’s ‘Lead Weight’ compilation – each and every one firm evidence that this was a band with hunger and talent in equal measure. They’d even got round to demoing their second single ‘Too Wild To Tame’ but were hoping to move with it into the big league. Who knows what would have happened had that come off, but by this time disenchantment, weariness and the financial reality of keeping a band together had taken its toll; on 17 December 1981 they called it a day, and nothing more was heard of Blitzkrieg until Brian reactivated the band three years later.
