ELIXIR
THE SON OF ODIN (40TH ANNIVERSARY)

Although by the time it was released in July 1986 the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was a thing of the past, Elixir’s debut album The Son Of Odin is one of the movement’s standout albums. Featuring a new version of their much praised single ‘Treachery (Ride Like The Wind)’, many years after its original release The Son Of Odin was voted one of the Top 20 Power Metal Albums Of All Time in UK’s Terrorizer magazine, and was featured as Classic Album Of The Month in April 2010’s issue of Sweden Rock magazine. Elixir had come together in London in 1983 and infused their love of traditional metal (citing records like Michael Schenker’s first MSG album, and Judas Priest’s British Steel as defining the sound of Eighties metal for the five musicians) with more contemporary influences like Mercyful Fate and Queensryche. With the classic line-up in place, the band released their highly acclaimed debut 7” ‘Treachery (Ride Like The Wind)’ in 1985, and a thumbs-up in Kerrang! by guest reviewer Ronnie James Dio gave them the confidence to commit to a full-length album. The result was The Son Of Odin, recorded at The Enid’s studios The Lodge in January 1986 and released six months later to some very glowing reviews. Its status was perhaps tellingly summed up in Metal Forces where reviewer Dave Constable called it “a self-financed debut LP that shames many major label metal releases,” and concluded “I’d rather listen to this than a hundred Turbos or Somewhere In Times.” This 40th anniversary release of this classic NWOBHM album adds the full 1985 session from which the ‘Treachery (Ride Like The Wind)’ single was taken, as well as the band’s previous demo and the session recorded for the BBC’s Friday Rock Show programme, while interviews with guitarist Phil Denton and manager Seymour Mincer tell the album’s story.