Lightforce: Battlezone (reissue 2019) |

With Eyes On Heavy Metal

(Soundmass 2019)

Heavy Metal is timeless. It’s not a fashion. Many already know that (I guess), and that’s why sometimes it pays to stick to the search for gems like this one, for that matter what was the first album by this Australian band called Lightforce. A little bit of history: Lightforce is the original band of Steve Rowe, later mastermind of Mortification, which centered its activity in the 80s. Later, Rowe, in addition to changes of members would mutate the name of Lightforce in Mortification, given the drastic change that he gave to the band in his musical style, but that is another story. Here his task lies only in being the bassist of this group, composing and occasionally, providing some second voices. The vocals come from the microphone of Steve Johnson, completing the lineup Cameron Hall on guitar and Errol Willenberg on drums. The result has little to do with what would later become Mortification. This is a nuclear bomb of authentic eighties Heavy Metal.

“Battlezone” was released in 1987 (we believe that any similarity with Paul Di Anno’s band, is not pure coincidence) and in only 8 songs they give us a lesson of great riffs, riding speed and how, with little, you can make great songs. In a certain way, it reminds us of the first Iron Maiden, the one from Paul Di Anno’s era, to whom Steve Johnson reminds us a little bit in his vocal flow. Away from the big media and spotlight (as it usually happens with all Metal), Lightforce managed to achieve a great album, with low budget and few weapons, which inevitably shows in the overall sound production, which does not turn out to be a big problem since authenticity is one of their best excuses for “Battlezone”.
“Choose To Win” is the song that opens the album, which in a way, is a demonstration of where the album is going, seeming in a way that there is a sort of continuity with ‘Evil Desires’, the track that follows it. What is different is “Reigning With The King”, a quasi-ballad that is maintained with a strong and sustained base, possibly one of the best of “Battlezone” along with “Eyes Of Destruction”, which begins with a kind of theatricalization very much in the style of “Thriller” (saving the distance of course) and that gives us the most “Mortification” moment of Lightforce; at least it seems that without starting on that side and without having the characteristics that would make Steve Rowe’s most famous band known, it wouldn’t sound off on some Mortification’s album.
I like the speed and metallicity of “I Won’t Conform”, not to mention the almost hypnotic riff of “The Day Is Near”, which is not only the shortest track on the album, but also a great mid-tempo blast. The title track, although not a bad song, doesn’t add too much, but “Fast Lane” is one of those anthems that every 80’s Metal lover will recognize.
So far, it is the original edition of “Battlezone” but, as if that were not enough, this re-release contains as bonus tracks, two Lightforce demos dating back to 1986, so we can hear the evolution of Lightforce and particularly of Steve Rowe, who went from a very punk rock sound to an elaborate classic Heavy Metal, very Maiden-like, for everything that was to come later with Mortification.

The first one is titled “Yellow Demo” and contains 5 unreleased tracks from the band, which at that time had a different line-up and included a female vocalist (Phadrah Hirschfield). The production is practically homemade but the sound is very listenable, keeping logically in Heavy Metal but, the curious thing is that the band had a more punk rock orientation, which is something really interesting. The most remarkable is “The Crunch” and maybe “Come With Us” and “Fishers Of Men”. Then, we also have the demo called “Blue Demo”, also from 1986, in which the production is much better and in which you can hear more elaborated versions of songs like “Pictures” and the aforementioned ones. Lightforce’s vibe is still in the same punk line, but we find something different in “Ballad On The Beach”, a very beach ballad (as the title obviously suggests). “I Felt Your Love” sounds more like Motorhead than punk. Finally, there is an interview with the band on the last track.
This edition is really worth it. Not only does it contain the original version of “Battlezone”, but it also contains the material mentioned above, although in our opinion, a double edition would have been better. The internal booklet contains the lyrics of the songs, vintage photographs and even pictures of the very early Lightforce. What to say about the album cover, impressive and keeping all the original color and design, and not only that, but it also has the original album cover, much more Heavy Metal!!!! Really to applaud the re-editing work done by the Soundmass label.
“Battlezone” is a sort of gem, hidden, forgotten, that thanks to the recognition that Steve Rowe later achieved with Mortification, gained another relevance, perhaps different from the one it had at the time of its original release. It is the beginning of what would come later, the base from where Steve Rowe would drink to give a different identity to Mortification. It’s true, Lightforce at that time didn’t surprise too much but, seen in perspective, it can be said that this first album is a correct debut and that above all, it has very good songs, without fissures, direct and with no twists and turns.
The album is available both on CD and Vinyl, although in this last case, it does not have the bonus tracks of the demos that we have mentioned. They are available at https://www.soundmass.com