Blitzkrieg (GB)

About

Few bands can claim their music inspired Metallica before Metallica were even signed. Blitzkrieg, the Leicester heavy metal outfit formed in 1980, earned that distinction when their track "Blitzkrieg" turned up as a Metallica B side in 1984. The connection ran deep enough that the then unsigned Metallica had actually sent Brian Ross a demo hoping he'd help get them onto Neat Records, where Ross was doing A&R work at the time. That kind of origin story tends to follow a band forever, but Blitzkrieg have kept busy regardless, with Ross as the sole constant member steering the ship through a long and winding lineup history. Their debut album A Time of Changes finally came out in 1985, years after it was originally planned, and the band has kept releasing records ever since, covering everything from the NWOBHM crunch of their early days to later efforts like Judge Not! in 2018 and a self titled album in 2024. Now based in Newcastle, the current lineup anchors around Ross alongside guitarists Alan Ross and Nick Jennison, with Matt Graham on drums. Over four decades in, they remain one of the more quietly persistent acts to come out of the original British heavy metal wave.