The first full release from 'Lizzy Borden' and despite the fact that he seems to have borrowed from many other groups, this is a damn fine debut. Musically there seems to be aspects from a lot of different bands, most notably 'Iron Maiden', but there's bits of 'Twisted Sister', 'Armored Saint', 'W.A.S.P.' and even a splattering of 'Alice Cooper'. Thankfully 'Lizzy Borden' has superb and very distinctive vocals (a sort of 'Dee Snider meets 'Bruce Dickinson'), so it all comes together extremely well and the styles merge without seeming too blatant. The lineup sports a twin guitar attack and although I'm not really familiar with 'Tony Matuzak' and 'Gene Allen' they are very accomplished and give the tracks a real kick.

'Lizzy Borden's' first slice of Shock Metal opens with 'Council for the Caldron' a 'Maidenesque' blazer full of glorious screaming guitars and vocals, the rhythm work is relentless and makes for a great dose of fist raising Metal. Even more menacing is the darker sounding 'Psychopath', although this track starts out well, it's spoilt by 'Lizzy' screaming "I want to play, I want to play" repetitively. 'Save Me' is better with it's free flowing approach, lyrically it's not so good and turns out a little trite, the sweet guitar solo should not be overlooked though. Next up is my favourite cut 'Red Rum', although it's fairly simple in approach it features sublime fret work throughout, punishing drums courtesy of 'Joey Scott', while 'Tony Matuzak' and 'Gene Allen' really pull out all the stops, overall the guitaring has a certain 'Mark Reale' / 'Riot' feel about it. The pace drops for the title track and here we witness a superb vocal performance by 'Lizzy' that's both melodic yet cutting and although this isn't quite a ballad, it's the subtlest track present and breaks the album up nicely. In total contrast is the belting 'American Metal', lyrically this is pretty basic yet it's still one hell of a rocker, with hearty chorus, thundering guitars and brilliant soaring vocals. 'Flesh Eater' follows in darker fashion, not one of the best songs present, the lyrics are fairly crude and repetitive for my liking, still not a bad track but the next three are much better. 'Warfare' is less bristling, but what makes it for me is the fine fret work and 'Maidenesque' style instrumental break, 'Lizzy' as always sounds great and it all comes together for a decent effort. There's plenty of early 'Iron Maiden' influence on the next track 'Godiva', the intro to which sounds like it could be from their first release or 'Killers', all told another solid track played at an almost Speed Metal tempo. Lastly we are gifted the gem 'Rod of Iron' and after a subtle intro the song erupts into a thunderous riff heavy cracker, complete with powerful chorus and forceful vocals.

I was lucky enough to pick up a re-mastered version of 'Love you to Pieces', which includes four bonus tracks. First up is a demo titled 'Wild One' a mid tempo affair, with prominent chorus, not a bad effort but the production is a bit ropy. A live demo takes the shape of 'Whiplash' and this is really into 'Iron Maiden' territory as it sounds very similar to 'Back to the Village' from 'Powerslave', better than 'Wild One' but again the production is pretty poor. Next up is an alternative rendition of 'Warfare', the recording quality is mediocre at best but as with the studio version it's decent. Last up is a demo called 'Dirty Pictures' and for me this is easily the best of the bunch, firstly the sound quality is leaps and bounds better than the rest and musically it's also a winner with a haunting mid tempo approach. Lyrically it isn't as bad as you might imagine by the title and 'Lizzy Borden' sound on top form, crystal clear with his usual power- also checkout the fine fret work if you get a chance.

If raw Metal is your thing, along the lines of 'Twisted Sister', 'Armored Saint', 'W.A.S.P.' and early 'Mötley Crüe', this is well worth getting. After a debut like this it's very surprising 'Lizzy Borden' weren't more prominent in the 80's scene.