In a career spanning forty years plus, Brit metallers Blitzkrieg have, save for the patronage of Metallica, who swelled the band’s coffers with a cover of their eponymous anthem Blitzkrieg way back when, never really looked like they might be anything other than one of the long list of NWoBHM hopefuls who never quite fulfilled their early promise. But the fact that we are here, still talking about the band all these years later – and still talking about them, what’s more, on the eve of the release of a new album, their first in over half a decade – must count for something, so let’s start by giving mainman and vocalist Brian Ross props for that if nothing else…

But then you put the record on – You’ll Never Take Me Alive is the first track up – and your ears are greeted by surely the most progressive, melodically assured track Blitzkrieg has ever committed to tape.It sounds astoundingly good, with Brian Ross literally defying time with one of his best vocal performances in recent memory. Has the addition of new guitarist and producer Nick Jennison transformed the band’s fortunes? let’s listen on!

The good work continues on next track The Spider, another urgent slice of trad metal with a well-constructed melodic chorus and a fantastic solo from Jennison, but next track Dragons Eye really takes things up a notch or two. It’s much heavier and much faster, with drummer Matt Graham pulling all the stops out behind the kit,  and if you’ve known this band for a while you might find yourself thinking what’s happened to Blitzkrieg? Everything here is bigger, better… Big backing vocals, a nice nod to Rainbow from Ross on the outro… For a band at this stage in their career to be coming out swinging like this is quite remarkable,

If I Told You is next, a conspiracy theory list song of sorts with a big whiff of Saxon that is perhaps more what  you’d expect from Blitkrieg but even this sounds fresher and less moribund than much of the material that found it’s way onto the band’s last studio full length, Judge Not!

Things take a slight downturn on Vertigo, which is the most ordinary track so far, but even here the band pull out interesting arrangements vocally to produce real surprise, and once again the lead guitar playing is exemplary. In the past the lesser tracks on Blitzkrieg albums have dragged those records down, but that’s just not the case here.

Above The Law is classic metal, nothing more, nothing less, right down to it’s themes of vigilante justice. However even here the arrangements, and the layering of the guitars, are better than ever before, allowing the sense of urgency the band has built up to keep them steaming full ahead. That said, next track I Am His Voice takes a while to get going but the drama laden close of the song, which incorporates – gasp – elements of modern metal theatrics and ‘woah-oh-oh’ style backing vocals – is worth the wait.

Penultimate effort The Night He Came Home is, perhaps, more what you would expect from Blitzkrieg in the twenty first century; Ross hams it up with a portentous delivery in the song’s early stages but the song never really ignites in the way the rest of the album does, which is a shame but even here the quality of the arrangement and the playing is high enough to absorb a little bit of disappointment.

Of course, this is a classic metal album we’re talking about and so there has to be one myth-driven epic; The eight-minute-plus closer On Olympus High – Aphrodite’s Kiss is that track. A cinematic intro gives way to clean, portentous guitars in best Iron Maiden fashion… cue duel leads… at eight and a half minutes this album closer, like the previous track, doesn’t quite ignite as it should but it does harbour perhaps the best vocal performance Brian Ross has delivered in his forty year plus career, which in itself must be a cause for celebration.

Blitzkrieg is a remarkable album, from a man, Ross, who’s undeniable loyalty to and belief in heavy metal over nearly half a century is quite staggering. However as an outsider you have to say that it seems to be the injection of fresh blood in the shape of Jennison, whose playing and arrangements seems to be the spark that has given Ross the impetus he needed to reach such dizzying new heights – long may that union continue!

Blitzkrieg releases on September 6th.