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Roxxcalibur is a young group from Germany, featuring members from different bands and this is their debut album. The record is a compilation of cover tunes by not so well known bands from the NWOBHM era. Like the title says, this is pure NWOBHM at its core, just like it was at the beginning of the 80's. It has every characteristic that made that scene so cherished among fans, highlighted by a great voice and sweeping guitars.

All of the songs are quite good, some of them better than others of course. Standouts include: "Running for the Line", "Axe Crazy", "Lady of Mars", "See You in Hell" and my favorite "Spirit of the Chateaux". The musicians take the songs to another level by adding something extra; I don't know what but they sound awesome. Starting with singer Alexx Stahl, while his voice is nothing great, it is perfect for this kind of music as it's full of character. Guitarists Roger Dequis and Roxx Kalli do justice to the songs, making improvements upon the originals (most of them). Mario Long's bass is audible (something that I'm always a fan of) and Neudi's drums are good, even though the sound is like Dream Theater.

Bottom line, this is one of the best cover albums I've ever listened to. Every song is an improvement over the original and if you didn't know they were cover you would not have noticed. Roxxcalibur are a band on my watch list. I just hope that they'll release a record full of original songs instead of covers.