Customer Reviews

One of These Days: Trespass Antholog

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If you're a fan of the celebrated New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement, you have to love what the Castle/Sanctuary label has done to bring the most obscure NWOBHM bands' material back to life. One of These Days - the Trespass Anthology is a perfect example. Here is a band that, aside from an appearance on the Metal for Muthas II album, never really made the kind of impact that bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Saxon, and Motorhead did on the scene. Trespass wasn't as pop-oriented as Def Leppard, as powerful as Priest and Maiden, or as gritty as Motorhead, and their straightforward hard rock style probably wouldn't be classified as metal by today's standards. Still, the band's White Sprit meets Demon sound definitely rocked, and they did play a role in one of metal's most influential scenes.

The good folks at Sanctuary have painstakingly compiled the available Trespass recordings, cleaned up the sound considerably, and provided NWOBHM fans another must-have 2-disc anthology. You get all of the band's studio material (previously collected separately as The Works and the Works II), plus previously unreleased BBC sessions, all digitally remastered, plus extensive liner notes, all for just a little more than the price of a single CD. Like all of the Sanctuary NWOBHM anthologies, it is well worth checking out, whether you're a die hard fan of that scene or you're just interested in checking out an overlooked piece of metal's history.

I bought this record on a whim, because I remembered hearing the song "one of these days" when I was at school, and was completely blown away. Every song on here is brilliant, and epitomises the NWOBHM sound.

They sound to me like a very fresh and zestful Steppenwolf meets Thin Lizzy sort of sound - with Lynotish vocals , and belongs in the same area of NWOBHM as bands like Diamond Head and Mythra I think.

Several different singers appear throughout this exhaustive anthology, giving it very varied feel. I think this band have a certain poigniance and depth which sets them apart from all the other bands of this genre, and makes this one of favourite albums to listen to when I'm feeling down. My favourite songs are one of these days (of course) - one of the best riffs ever! stormchild, man and machine, change your mind, the dualists - which manages to be swashbuckling and nostalgic at the same time and features one of the best solos I've ever heard in my life, and jealousy which has yet another different singer who sounds like Ian Gillan. I also like long way to Hollywood - which is cheesey and fun, and sounds like Motley Crue before Motley Crue! with another singer who sounds like a NWOBHM Vince Neil(don't let that put you off though!

Overall this is one of my favourite records, and if you find yourself on this page please get it.

England's Trespass formed at the dawn of the NWOBHM in 1978 and it wasn't long before they released their first single, "One of These Days" with the B-side "Bloody Moon" (the latter bearing no relation to Jess Franco's 1981 splatter film of the same name), in 1979. The core of the group were the Sutcliffe brothers, with Mark on guitars and vocals and brother Paul on drums. The single was an immediate success and received airplay on all the major U.K. heavy metal radio outlets, including that of famed announcer John Peel.

The version of "One of These Days" that you may be more familiar with though (and also included here) was the one recorded during the February 1980 sessions at Spaceward Studios and which appeared on the noted "Metal for Muthas II" compilation of the same year. (Ten years later it would also appear on Lars Ulrich and Geoff Barton's famed "NWOBHM: '79 Revisited" 2-CD compilation, which is where I first heard it.) By this time the group had seen the entry of new vocalist Steve Mills, and he along with the vastly improved production make this the definitive version to have of this classic song.

The group were unique in their scene at the time; instead of aping the Motorhead/Judas Priest speed metal template that so many of their peers tried their hand with at the time, Trespass instead were far more concerned with strong melodies, memorable hooks and vocal lines (such as on "Jealousy," which addresses the time-worn problem suggested in its title with the line, "When I see you talkin'/To another guy...," and you can imagine the rest.)

I have five tracks from the 1980 recording sessions, including those already mentioned, that I program in succession from this compilation and listen to all the time. It doesn't hurt that Castle did a magnificent job as always with this reissue. The remastering on these tracks is brilliant and always crystal clear. Also included are comprehensive liner notes and previously unseen archive photos.

The only reason I couldn't rate this anthology with a full five stars is because like with most compilations, some of the songs are hit or miss and this is particularly true of the post-1981 material found on disc two, where the band became essentially commercial hard rock or glam metal and, like a lot of the NWOBHM bands at the time, seemed to lose the raw edge that characterized their earlier recordings.

Still, for those collecting as much rare material as they can find by some of the brightest stars of the NWOBHM, Trespass were definitely among the better of the lesser-known groups and are not to be missed. Recommended for NWOBHM and hard rock fans.