ROGUE MALE skivene slippes på nytt

Rogue Male – one of the most underrated bands ever to emerge on the N.W.O.B.H.M. scene in the middle 80's. Called "the next big thing" by Kerrang! magazine, the band recorded two brilliant albums, but soon after that left the music business for good. Rogue Male was in fact one of the first bands to establish the crossover genre, which mixed various musical inspirations to form a completely new style. And today Metal Mind Productions presents re-release of those two albums: "First Visit" & "Animal Man".  

"First Visit", Rogue Male's impressive debut release was at its time a truly valuable piece, conjoining heavy speed metal with aggressive rock'n'roll in the likes of Motörhead and a significant techno edge. The album featured nine catchy and melodic tracks showcasing the co-op of the best elements of metal and rock'n'roll. New edition includes 2 bonus tracks! "Animal Man" was the follow-up to the impressive debut, featuring a thrilling collection of sharp speed metal/rock'n'roll songs with a techno edge to it. Re-release includes 1 bonus track!      

Classic material from Music For Nations archives in a new digipak edition, limited to numerated 2000 copies, will be available on 17th September 2007 via Metal Mind Productions.

Rogue Male
"First Visit" (re-release+ bonus tracks)
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD DG 1092
Barcode: 5907785030657
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 2000 numerated copies)
Genre:  N.W.O.B.H.M
Release date: 17.09.2007  

Tracklist:  

1. Crazy Motorcycle 
2. All Over You 
3. First Visit 
4. Get Off My Back 
5. Dressed Incognito 
6. Unemployment 
7. On the Line  
8. Devastation  
9. Look Out  

Bonus tracks:

10. The Real Me
11. All Over You  

 

Rogue Male
"Animal Man" (re-release + bonus track)
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD DG 1093
Barcode: 5907785030664
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 2000 numerated copies)
Genre:  N.W.O.B.H.M.
Release date: 17.09.2007  

Tracklist:  

1. Progress
2. L.U.S.T.
3. Take No Shit
4. You're On Fire
5. The Real Me
6. Animal Man
7. Belfast
8. Job Centre
9. Low Rider
10. The Passing  

Bonus track:

11. Rough Tough (Pretty Too)  

Bio
The band was formed in 1985 in Belfast, UK by Jim Lyttle, who earlier worked with groups such as Pretty Boy Floyd, The Gems, Pictures and Visa. The first line-up featured former Handsome Beasts guitarist Phil Ashton, drummer Steve Kingsley (ex-Deep Machine), bassist Chris Aylmer (ex-Samson and M-80) and Lyttle on vocals. Aylmer didn't stay in the band for long (he departed to the famous pop act Simple Minds and later on Head Over Heels) and was soon replaced by Phillipe Clark. Rogue Male begun recording their debut album Music For Nations, however during the process another personal changes occurred in the band – Clark was replaced by former Le Griffe bassist Kevin Collier and Ashton gave his position to guitarist John Fraiser-Binnie (ex-Dirty Tricks).
Finally, "First Visit" is released in 1985. Consisting of nine extremely catchy and melodic tracks, the record showcased the best elements of metal and rock'n'roll put together. However, perhaps the most intriguing element of this album was its cover, presenting Rogue Male's frontman as a cyborg humanoid, revealing his true appearance. The graphics were very suggestive and quite shocking at the time, but they also showed the band's fascination with cybernetic, post-nuclear motives, as if taken straight from a "Mad Max" movie. Their live performances only confirmed this fascination – all the band members wore impressive futuristic outfits, complete with spiked furry vests and camouflage with faces covered in proper make-up.
After the release of the album the group traveled to the U.S. for an excessive club tour, but failed to attract enough interest. They returned to Great Britain, and soon parted with their drummer, Steve Kingsley. For a short while Kingsley was replaced by John Hamilton, but eventually Swiss drummer Danny Fury took the job (although the drums on Rogue Male's second album were entirely done by a session musician, Charlie Morgan).
The group begun working on their follow-up album in 1986. Preceded by an EP called "Belfast", "Animal Man" featured a new portion of dynamic metal/rock'n'roll collaboration, with even sharper compositions and stronger sound. The lyrics, same as on the debut, oscillated around motorcycles, war, fury and a rather rare subject for heavy metal – unemployment. Rogue Male finally got noticed by the media and was invited to the "ECT" heavy metal TV show, where they played a memorable set. Right about that time the band welcomed a new guitarist in their ranks – Julian Nicholas – to back them up during live shows.
Unfortunately, the second album did not sell as well as expected and the band soon parted ways with Music For Nations. After recording a few new demos which failed to secure a new contract for the band, Rouge Male officially split up. Phil Ashton joined a Birmingham act Tantrum in 1985, John Fraiser-Binnie re-joined his band Dirty Tricks in the 90's, while Julian Nicholas went out to join Glasshouse and later on Burn and The XXX Band.
Sadly, Rouge Male did not make it big, as Kerrang! predicted. However, their music did not remain forgotten and now, with an exclusive CD reissues, metal enthusiasts can experience the brilliance of Rouge Male's stunning releases.