Power Of Destruction

One of those great “one and done” curios in the classic metal canon, Belgium’s BAD LIZARD began life in 1980 with a more hard rock-oriented sound on their first single (originally released in 1982) before shifting gears up to proto-power-leaning heavy metal a year later on their next 12” EP. However, it was their 1985 debut album, Power of Destruction, where BAD LIZARD laid down an etched-in-time underground classic and then promptly disappeared as their lineup fell apart and promising tours had to be cancelled. A Heavy metal dream lost at the time, but its memory is now being resurrected for a new generation of true metallers hungry for the cultest ‘80s European sounds. Released by a young Roadrunner Records, BAD LIZARD’s Power of Destruction bore some pretty recognizable similarities to much-bigger bands – the dual-guitar interplay of Judas Priest, the harmonic gallop of Iron Maiden, the cool, dark cruise of Accept – but the way they assimilated these influences spoke volumes about the vitality of the metal underground at the time.