TANK
WAR NATION

»War Machine«, originally issued in 2010, marked Tank’s first studio album after eight years. Founding member, bassist and singer Algy Ward, who died way too early in 2023 at the age of 63, had left the band in 2008. He was replaced by ex-Rainbow vocalist Doogie White. It was guitarists Mick Tucker and Cliff Evans forming the core of the reborn Tank, both members of the band since the mid-80s.

On the follow-up »War Nation« (2012), they were joined by Chris Dale on bass (who had worked for Bruce Dickinson’s solo band) and Steve Hopgood on drums (long-time partner in crime of Cliff Evans in Paul Di’Anno’s Killers).

Cliff Evans explains: “»War Machine« was the first album we had recorded since Algy Ward’s departure, so we had to re-think the way we worked. Recruiting Doogie White as vocalist gave us the opportunity to move away from the traditional Tank sound and explore new musical dynamics that were previously not possible. »War Machine« was very well received by the press and the global Tank fanbase so we knew we had to continue on this path. Writing and working with Doogie was a new venture for us and we were very happy with the first album we had made with this new line-up. Now that we had established a solid direction to head in and a songwriting structure, it made recording the next album »War Nation« much more streamlined.”

According to Evans, the process of recording »War Nation« was quite straightforward: “The songs were written and demoed in our own home studios, so we knew exactly what we needed to do when we entered the studio. The album was recorded and mixed by Phil Kinman, and it was mastered by Ade Emsley who has mastered all the recent Iron Maiden albums and re-issues.”

In addition to »War Nation« having been partly re-recorded and re-mixed by guitarist Mick Tucker for this ultimate re-issue on High Roller Records, there are also two bonus tracks, firstly a demo recording of “War Machine” plus an acoustic version of “W.M.L.A.” (originally on »Blood And Honour« from 1984). “We found the demo of the title track from »War Machine« on an old drive,” reveals Cliff Evans. “It was one of the first demos we made of the song as it was really starting to take shape. Doogie’s vocal is amazing, and this version was the template we used for the final recording that made it onto the album. And ‘W.M.L.A’ is one of our favourite Tank songs so we thought we would see how it would work as an acoustic version.”