NWOBHM WEDNESDAY: MORE

Formed in 1979, More (an interesting if unspectacular name) were a fairly straight-forward hard rock/heavy metal outfit that released two full-length albums and a few singles before calling it a day. Nothing remarkable can be said about the band other then perhaps the fact that the band featured the original lead vocalist of Iron Maiden, Paul Mario Day, on their debut album "Warhead". In fact the band is hardly mentioned at all when discussions turn to the NWOBHM era and what it meant. The sad part about that is the fact that I, like many before me and many now I fear, waited far too long to do a proper search of the group with the end result being that I missed out on what just might be one of the best NWOBHM albums that most people have never heard. "Blood & Thunder" (Atlantic Records, 1982) saw the addition of a new vocalist, Mick Stratto, and a more mature sound. Trying to describe that sound is a bit of a complication. More, more then anything, sound like a fine mixture of classic rock and hard rock/heavy metal. AC/DC comes to mind as does a heavier Kiss (if Kiss had been influenced by Judas Priest) and even classic bands like maybe Cream, but being a NWOBHM act there are obviously those trademarks as well (shredding guitars for one thing) that made the movement so fun to begin with. Before I actually heard the band I had read some reviews online where Raven was brought up. Connecting More and Raven is a bit of a stretch although both do have that very basic, no-frills hard and heavy undertone to their music. More though are not as frantic and sound more rooted in the hard rock/classic rock of the seventies (UFO maybe?) without ever sounding dated. "Blood & Thunder" is a rocker of an album and overall just an enjoyable LP for when your looking for foot-stomping hard rock like AC/DC. It's a shame the band's career was so short and that more people don't know about this cult little band. Hopefully this article will inspire some of you to check the band out. Both albums have been re-released with improved sound and are worth adding to a NWOBHM collection.