Giantkiller was a British band that had a solid following in England but just a cult following in North America. They originally self released this album but it was picked up by Kingsway Music in the UK and Star Song in North America. Strangely they added a track, “Refuge From The Wind” for the two label releases. I don’t quite know how to classify them but I would say this was progressive new wave for 1980. At time you definitely hear a seventies rock sound and almost punk at others. This is one that I missed in the 80’s which is too bad as it would have been right up my alley. I kind of doubt it was released in Canada so that’s probably why I didn’t hear them at the time. Production on the album was a little weak and I would love if a real producer found the original tracks and remixed them.
Tracklist
1 – Voices – 3:29
2 – Dirty Hearts – 2:41
3 – Refuge From The Wind – 2:22
4 – Problem Page – 3:02
5 – Living In The Cities – 2:14
6 – Innocent Blood – 4:13
7 – Kicking In The Gates Of Hell – 3:28
8 – Fire In My Heart – 2:55
9 – Children Of The Promise – 5:03
10 – King Of Kings – 3:30
11 – Stand And Be Counted – 3:55
12 – Kingdom Come – 5:23
Credits
Bass, Vocals – Alan Hiscox
Drums – Steve Purton
Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Paul Herbst
Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals – Pete Gilgan
Producer – Terry Gavaghan
Vocals – Richard Nicholson
The greatest frustration with this vinyl was the compressed sound. Kingsway gave it almost no dynamic range, and the waveform just sits hugging the middle line. If you hard limit it, the record is transformed. I loved Kicking in the Gates of Hell, and Richard had a great voice for this recording. He went solo in the 90’s as Billy Penn’s Brother, and I actually made a short film with him and Sham 69’s Jimmy Pursey which was fun.