White Wizzard’s debut EP, High Speed GTO, was a fun blast of NWOBHM-centric metal. Now, while the metal world is falling over itself to find stripey T-shirts and Spandex trews, the Californians find themselves moving more into the realms of the bands inspired by them.
The Devil’s Cut has far more of a late-80s feel, while the likes of Strike The Iron and Lightning In My Hand are power metal, albeit not the Eurovision-alike kind. This is muscular US power metal from the school of Iced Earth and Jag Panzer.
Mainman and bassist Jon Leon has yet again had to put together a new lineup but he’s come up trumps with the vocal talents. Joseph Michael – cousin of the great Ronnie James Dio – does his forebear’s memory proud and with two hot shredders on guitar, White Wizzard can lay claim to virtuoso status.
A fine collection of crunchy metal, and with Kings Of The Highway, they have the all-important heavy metal biker anthem. Nice.
