Old Metal Christmas, A to Z: GRIFFIN

More US Power Metal dominance for our blog, and another special holiday presentation with San Francisco’s GRIFFIN.  While many of their Bay Area brothers were growing fat on speed/thrash, GRIFFIN took more to the heavy metal roots of the movement in crafting their 1986 debut Flight of the Griffin.

The attitude of late 70s/early 80s JUDAS PRIEST just seethes throughout this fine album, thanks in large part to the untethered, devil-may-care screeching of William McKay.  Comparisons to OMEN and their lively medieval fetishism should be obvious, which could also reasonably lead us to the rough-hewn fantasies of the previously featured BROCAS HELM from the same part of the world.

Some of the GRIFFIN guys had brief stints in METAL CHURCH, which may be a good place to start in lieu of spending your salary on this very OOP disc from the dusty Shrapnel Records catalog.  Early OVERKILL, although more down-to-earth and harder-nosed overall, fostered many burgeoning power metal moments that rival the attitude and construction of those here and should not be forgotten either.

Cheers!