This Colorado band formed in 1983, released well-received "Ample Destruction" (1984), then went into a 10-year sabbatical, resurfacing in 1994 with a new singer (Daniel Conca) and releasing "Dissident Alliance." Only selected few have heard these works, but in 1997 original singer, Harry "Tyrant" Conkin, returned to the band, and, with "The Fourth Judgement" (1997), Jag Panzer started gaining notoriety among the U.S. underground metallers. Their 1998 album, "Age Of Mastery," received very good reviews. "Thane To The Throne" (2000) was their most ambitious project, where they took on "Macbeth." In the Dark Age of Metal in America, Jag Panzer still plays traditional (with a touch of power and prog) heavy metal, not caring about the musical climate. The follow-ups, "Mechanized Warfare" (2001) and "Casting The Stones" (2004), continued in the same vein. Just recently the band went back to their roots, re-recording some of its 80s material, and releasing it as "Decade of the Nail-Spiked Bat" (2003). The band's current lineup: Conklin, Mark Briody (guitars, keys, back vocals, songs, website), John Tetley (bass), Chris Broderick (lead guitar, also in Nevermore), and Rikard Stjernquist (drums).
AGE OF MASTERY (1998)
BEST SONGS: "Iron Eagle," "False Messiah," "Chain Of Command"
Fans of Judas Priest, Blind Guardian, and progressive metal, rejoice! Here comes Jag Panzer and Age Of Mastery! Superb rockers "Iron Eagle" (killer chorus), "Lustful And Free," "Sworn To Silence," "False Messiah" (I know it's a cover, but still, a killer riff), title track, "Chain Of Command," and "Burning Heart" all earn this album a solid spot in metal's history. The lyrics are reasonably intelligent, the music is full of energy, and "Tyrant" Conklin sings with great passion. While "Iron Eagle" and "Lustful" will certainly remind you of Priest (they look and sound great live, with Conklin, dressed in black leather, a la Halford, delivering the "raise your fist!" attitude), but the title track and especially the album-concluding "The Moors" will surely bring the Blind Guardian side in you. A marvelous epic based on the immortal tale of King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere, is truly awesome. Progressive touches include complicated guitar solos and tempo changes. The weaker side includes "Displacement" (too plain, and chorus sounds a bit cheesy) and "Take My Pain Away" (love ballads... will people ever stop writing them?). Nonetheless, a great album, and even more so that it CAN be found in your local stores. Btw, a killer booklet design!
THANE TO THE THRONE (2000)
RATING: **1/2
BEST SONGS: "King At A Price," "The Prophecies."
An OK album, based on Shakespeare's "Macbeth," but it lacks variety and, to a degree, punch. Basically, 90% of the songs sound completely identical, and I'm having a hard time remembering their melodies, their titles, and their words. The only song that is truly memorable is "King At A Price," with its awesome chorus, I don't think I'll *ever* forget this one. But everything else just falls flat. Surely, there are plenty of short pretty interludes, but that's not enough to make an album versatile. "Bloody Crime" has very boring lead break, which is a rarity, because all lead guitars by Chris Broderick are usually high in quality. "Spectres Of The Past" sounds almost like a Crimson Glory tune, but Harry Conklin isn't exactly Midnight. Speaking of vocals, Conklin sings very well: this is the best I've heard him sing, but he's still not among my favorites. The passion is all there, and the range is pretty good, but I just don't find his tembre too appealing. Nevertheless, the problem is not really with Conklin: he sings with power, but the music is generally not there to back him up; this is why I think the album lacks punch. "Three Voices Of Fate" has nice Blind Guardian-like choires in the beginning, but then it flattens out as well. Great drumming from Rick Stjernquist, and ESPECIALLY great production from Jim Morris. He could make frog's croaking sound great! Guest performance from Moscow String Orchestra (currently in residence in Colorado) on "The Prophecies" make this piece the best instrumental of 2000. "The Downward Fall" is another terrific acoustic instrumental, with Spanish influences. Everything else is more in the same vein. The lyrics aren't too bad: a good tour into the story of Macbeth who killed the king and inherited the throne. The artwork is pretty lame, but, hey, what can you do? Even though I'm disappointed, a couple of gems make this album worth noticing.
MECHANIZED WARFARE (2001)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: "Take To The Sky," "Choir Of Tears," "Cold Is The Blade"
A series of improvements over Thane is still not quite enough to raise these guys up to their potential. Improvement #1: it's definitely heavier. Sound-wise, it is near flawless. Improvement #2: the music is better. It is hard-hitting, without sacrificing the melodics. Terrific musicianship from Broderick and Briody (plenty of tasty and complicated lead breaks throughout the album). #3: Some songs are very good, like those listed above. Now, for the problems. Problem #1: it's still not very fast. While speed is not a necessary condition for making the album great (look at Dio Magica, for crying out loud), it never hurts. Problem #2: while the music is catchier than on TTTT, which was awful in that department, but at least had "King At A Price," this album is still not near as memorable as AoM, with no "King At A Price" anywhere to be found. I'm serious: even the strongest songs on this album, like "Take To The Sky" and "Cold Is The Blade," don't remain in my head 5 minutes after the CD's over. For comparison, from the new Warrior album which I bought over a month ago, I remember at least 5 songs very well. And the problem lies not as much in the riffs as in the vocal melodies. Frankly, most vocal lines sound detached from the main music, as if they were thrown in the last minute, and had nothing to do with songs themselves. Which brings us to the main problem: Harry Conklin. This album cements my opinion that he's the most overrated singer in the contemporary metal scene. His singing on the high notes seriously lacks power, and I simply find his tone very unpleasant (just my opinion). He goes off key in a few places, and when he goes emotional ("Unworthy" and "All Things Renewed"), he makes me want to put a brown bag over my head. And that comes on top of excellent music in these ballads (except I could do without the heavy part in "All Things Renewed," it sounds totally out of place). His emotions simply never fit the context of the song, beats me why. Background singing is very powerful throughout the album ("Choir Of Tears" is especially good), which only emphasizes Conklin's inefficiency. Verdict: while this is an improvement over "Macbeth," they can still do better. Hell, this is the band that gave us "Iron Eagle"!
DECADE OF THE NAIL-SPIKED BAT (2003)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: "Metal Melts The Ice," "Warfare," "Generally Hostile"
Two cds full of pretty good material, that either appeared on their demos, or was unreleased, or Mark was unhappy with the arrangements. The sound is raw and fairly thick. Although there are numerous keyboards and multivocal choirs, but the production is anything but polished: the guys must have deliberately gone after the rawest sound they could get without being riduculous (Metallica-ridiculous). I can't say any of the songs knocked me square on my butt, but this is still a bunch of quality stuff. My problems with Jag Panzer remain the same: the vocal melodies do not fit the music, and neither does Harry's voice in the first place. There is also relatively little flow to the songs, as most of the arrangements come from the "stop-and-go" camp, slightly reminiscent of a car running out of gas. Except on the lead breaks: in most cases, they are excellent. My favorite tracks are those with relative flow and crunch. "Metal Melts the Ice" is an excellent tune, and Harry stays in the acceptable range. It's when he starts being "emotional" (intro to "Forsaken") it makes me cringe. In my opinion, he should stay in the mid-range, without going overly high, overly gritty, or overly sappy. Other songs with the flow are "Battle Zones" and "Warfare," with their catchy choruses, (overall, they remind me of Judas Priest in a healthy way), "Generally Hostile" (that's some message, Mark!), and some others. Occasionally, the songs become what could be perceived as thrash in the late 80s ("Tower of Darkness," "Licensed to Kill"), and Harry's screams become more fitting (in thrash the vocals generally don't mean quite as much as in power metal: look at Overkill and Heathen). "The Watching" has a good mid-tempo chugging, and overall the songs are quite decent, but not great. I would check it out if you see it, but not go out of my way to get it.
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