Review by Daniel for Brocas Helm - Into Battle (1984)

Brocas Helm were a three-piece heavy metal outfit that first formed in San Francisco in 1982 with their initial demo tape being recorded the following year. It led to a recording contract with First Strike Records for the release of the first Brocas Helm studio album in 1984's “Into Battle” record.

Now there are some really interesting elements to “Into Battle” but they're sadly tainted by a couple of pretty serious flaws. For starters, the production on this record is absolutely appalling. It's incredibly dirty with the vocals sounding quite echoey & often struggling to pierce through the racket being created by the instrumentalists. This noisier production seems to be responsible for many fans & critics labelling Brocas Helm as sloppy musicians but that’s not true at all. They are in fact quite talented metal musicians in their own right with some of the material showcasing particularly progressive song structures that require a decent level of musicianship to pull off. I can only think that the band must have been furious with the result of their labour here though as I can’t fathom how you could possibly record & mix an album as poorly as this.

The second major flaw comes in the form of guitar-slinging front man Bobbie Wright’s complete lack of vocal talent. He doesn’t ever really sound like he’s up to the task here & is quite embarrassing on the weaker numbers. I just don’t see how the band could have thought that Bobbie's performance was acceptable & it’s a real shame because Brocas Helm seem to have something about them. Given a decent production & a quality front man I feel that there might have been enough decent material to make for a solid heavy metal release. As it is though we’re left to ponder what could have been.

As for the positive elements of “Into Battle”, the level of musicality is really quite good with all musicians proving themselves to have pretty sharp chops. This is some very fast & energetic heavy metal with plenty going on & I don’t ever get the impression that the boys are out of their depth. Guitar solos flow freely & the riffs often have quite a thrashy feel to them which isn’t surprising given that Brocas Helm hail from the home of the thrash metal genre. Some of the riffs can be quite ambitious with the regular use of technical runs & unusual time signatures being a highlight of the album. But the most impressive display probably comes from drummer Jack Hays who really goes to town on his kit. Some of these songs include so many drum rolls that Jack must surely have been exhausted by the end of each song & I really enjoy his performance here. Especially on the fast & more aggressive material.

There’s unquestionably a strong NWOBHM influence running through the Brocas Helm sound with Iron Maiden, Motorhead & Raven in particular being the most obvious names that pop into my head. In fact, Brocas Helm seem to be very much a combination of Raven’s fast-paced & athletic heavy metal & the proto-thrash intensity of Canada’s Anvil. Ironically, I struggle a lot with both of those bands so there’s no prize for guessing that I’m not a fan of Brocas Helm’s debut either. Unfortunately the album’s flaws are too much for me to overcome. Even if the production issues were ironed out I think I’d struggle to look past the vocal deficiencies to be honest.