Graeme Leslie Gives Us Some Details | Stairway Releases “Metal Rising”
Stairway is synonymous with heavy metal, struggle, persistence, and longevity. The British band is a clear example of resilience, having been fighting the good fight since 1978. Over the years, they have released few albums, but they have maintained an essence rooted in the sound of the late ’70s and the NWOBHM. With each release, they have made it clear that this is their essence and that they have no intention of changing. Stairway has had a hard time releasing albums, and it is only since 2000 that they have begun a series of more or less regular releases, which is very good.
The news is that Stairway has decided to release a compilation album through the Roxx Records label, in limited physical format, entitled “Metal Rising,” which contains 12 tracks from their discography. Graeme Leslie, Stairway’s guitarist and vocalist, told us about the genesis of the project: “We thought would be a good idea, to take a selection of the more metal tracks from the Stairway studio albums and put them together on one album, hence Metal Rising. It was first released in 2024 as a download, then we teamed up with Roxx Records for a CD release which came out at the end of May this year.”
Their partnership with Roxx Records is not only surprising to those of us who know the band, but also auspicious, as one of Stairway’s characteristics over the years has been to release albums completely independently. “We worked with Roxx Records in 2023 on the 30th Anniversary edition of our debut album No Rest:No Mercy, and as it wasn’t available on vinyl back in 1993 Roxx was keen to make a special anniversary edition. Roxx Records is a great label to work with and because of this we decided again to work with them on the Metal Rising compilation”, says Leslie.
One of the things that has always been striking about Stairway is that, despite the years they have been together as a band, they are not more recognized as such in the Christian metal scene, something that is totally unfair from our point of view, but Graeme Leslie has his own take on the matter: “Difficult to say really. American Christian metal bands more or less dominated in the early days, and there were record labels in the US which signed and supported the bands. Stairway being from the UK with a much smaller scene and no labels, and the UK not being known that well for Christian metal, maybe that is a factor, together with the fact, as I’ve said, the US scene dominated in the early days, which is why we’ve released albums independently..”; is it time to start paying off the debt owed to a historic band like Stairway?
The band, of course, has no intention of giving up and is preparing new stuff for a new album. Graeme Leslie tells us, “We plan on releasing a new album, some of the songs are more or less complete, but we’re still working on some others. We don’t have a release date as yet.” So we’ll have to wait for a new dose of Heavy Metal.
“Metal Rising,” meanwhile, is available through the Roxx Records label (https:\\roxxrecords.com), and also in digital format, for those who want to get acquainted with Stairway’s stuff. It’s a good opportunity to hear some of the best songs Stairway has recorded over its long history. We also leave you with our review of the 2006 album “The Other Side Of Midnight” and some video lyrics to listen to from Stairway.
