WARLORD: and the Cannons of Destruction have begun LP Check the exclusive video of the LP for sale! Rare with lyric sheet + merchandise form. Original 1984 Metal Blade Records MBR 1029, Enigma Records ‎E 1112. Check videos + audio (whole album)

 89.82

An Unsung Classic

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Check the exclusive video of the LP for sale!

Check the exclusive video of the LP for sale!


Warlord – …And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun (1984)
Label: Metal Blade Records ‎– MBR 1029, Enigma Records ‎– E-1112
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Heavy Metal
Tracklist:
A1 Beginning/Lucifer’s Hammer 4:16
A2 Lost And Lonely Days 4:10
A3 Black Mass 5:15
A4 Soliloquy 4:27
B1 Aliens 4:19
B2 MCMLXXXIV 2:42
B3 Child Of The Damned 3:41
B4 Deliver Us From Evil 4:49
Includes lyric sheet.
Matrix / Runout: S-12663 S-12664
Other: Mastered By Capitol

Warlord was an American heavy metal band, formed in 1980 and based in Los Angeles, CA.
The brainchild of guitarist/songwriter Bill Tsamis [*March 13th 1961 +May 13th 2021] and drummer Mark Zonder, who had made their way down from San Jose, CA to Los Angeles, Warlord caught the attention of fledgling record company owner, Brian Slagel, whose label, Metal Blade Records, had recently issued Metal Massacre, a compilation featuring up ‘n coming local metal bands such as Malice, Steeler, Ratt, and Metallica. An aficionado of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and admirer of the European metal aesthetic, Slagel was impressed by Warlord epic, semi-progressive style inspired by such diverse acts as Rainbow, Angel Witch, and Jethro Tull. Slagel decided to offer the band a spot on his next compilation and Warlord would make their vinyl debut with ‘Lucifer Hammer’ on 1982 Metal Massacre II. Earning rave reviews, Warlord made a repeat appearance with ‘Mrs. Victoria’ on Metal Massacre III and were signed to Metal Blade for their 1983 Deliver Us 6-song mini-album which got the band featured in important publications such as Kerrang!.
Adding further intrigue to the growing Warlord mystique was the band members’ use of pseudonyms such as ‘Destroyer’ (Tsamis), ‘Thunderchild’ (Zonder), ‘Damien King’ (vocalist Jack Rucker), and entinel’ (keyboardist Diane Kornarens) as well as Warlord refusal to become just another LA club act, opting to present themselves on a grander scale instead. To that end, the band rented The Raymond Theatre to stage what would turn out to be the only Warlord live performance. It was filmed and recorded – without an audience present – for the group first full-length release, …And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun, issued in October 1984 and accompanied by a VHS home video release of the same name. The album featured 2 brand new tracks, Soliloquy’ and MCMLXXXIV’, as well as both cuts from the ‘Lost And Lonely Days’ b/w ‘Aliens’ 12″” single released earlier that same year. Tsamis, Zonder, and Kornarens were joined by bassist Dave Watry (‘Archangel’) and new vocalist Rick Cunningham (‘Damien King II’).

Unsung Classic: Warlord – Aliens:

This time, we dig through the Metal Blade vaults and find one of the true oddities in their catalogue – a debut album that wasn’t really a debut album, one that nobody heard but still helped invent an entire subgenre: Warlord’s … And the Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun (Metal Blade).
It’s always fascinating coming across records that connect the dots between styles, the missing links of musical evolution which didn’t quite fall into what came before or after and so fell between the cracks. And while the classic rock/neoclassical influences of power metal are fairly obvious (Rainbow, Rising Force), as are the early acts practising the style (Helloween, Manowar), but the bands that bridged the gap don’t receive nearly as much recognition.  Warlord, as you may be able to guess, are one of those important in-betweeners.

Formed in 1980 in Los Angeles by  guitarist/songwriter Bill Tsamis and drummer Mark Zonder (who later joined the more-successful Fates Warning) and influenced by 70s arena rock and New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands, Warlord had grand ambitions – they were going to rule the world, even if nobody else was aware that they, well, existed.  Sure, they’d had a couple tracks on the Metal Massacre compilations, and Metal Blade had released an EP of theirs called Deliver Us, and they hadn’t technically performed live, but they were determined to skip right over the (over-saturated, horrible) early 80s LA club scene.  And they knew exactly how to do that – by renting out The Raymond Theatre in Raymond, Washington and recording their live concert debut.  Without an audience.  And then releasing the VHS of that concert and using its “soundtrack” as their quasi-full-length debut.

As ill-conceived as the venture may have been, 1984’s …And the Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun contains some pretty serious jams.  Consisting of the definitive versions of all the material they had written and released to date, these seven songs are stronger than steel.  After an opening narration about the portentous year of the recording, they kick into “Lucifer’s Hammer,” a song which manages the impressive feat of having a pre-chorus almost as catchy as the chorus itself – the latter of which, about a hammer falling on you.  “Lost and Lonely Days” brings the trademark power metal gallop and a keyboard crisis courtesy of whiz kid Diane Kornarens.  “Soliloquy” delivers, as per its name, an agonized internal monologue, while “MCMLXXXIV/Child of the Damned” fills the requisite extended-instrumental-into-Iron-Maiden-epic slot, and “Deliver Us” re-purposes the “Diary of a Madman” riff for much frillier purposes.  Also, there’s a song called “Aliens” that’s way too catchy.

They never really got their act together after this, going through a series of vocalists (all with the stage name Damien King, I through III) and never actually putting out a fully formed album.

Additional information

Weight 0.25 kg

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