Great Metal Albums of 1986: Lizzy Borden- The Murderess Metal Roadshow

Actually, I should have mentioned this six posts ago. That will teach me to pay more attention to my stats. This is my 1006th post here on 80smetalman and I have all of you to thank.

Lizzy Borden’s live album, “The Murderess Metal Roadshow” came out before the studio album I posted about a few months ago, “Menace to Society.” I guess after three albums plus and EP, the band thought it was time to put out a live album. After all, while it wasn’t until 1986 they finally got my attention through the mentioned studio album, they were already doing well on the West Coast.

The thing about a live album is that it could make or break one’s decision as to whether or not to see them live. This criteria might not be fair to a band. For example, if I hadn’t previously seen Dio four times, the “Intermission” album might have put me off doing so. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case because Dio were always phenomenal live. In the case of Lizzy Borden, this live album makes me regret not having seen them live because I get the impression that they would have put on a fun show.

Things go streaking very by so rapidly with the first few songs that you have to be really attentive or you might miss them. The first four songs are just one massive headbang. Then things really go up couple of gears with “Rod of Iron.” “Save Me” reminds me a little bit of the Iron Maiden classic, “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” I’m talking about the live version from “Live After Death.” It has the same level of foreboding and intensity at the same time, although “Save Me” does have a killer guitar solo.

Those two songs start a string of really good songs. Some like “Godiva” verge on speed metal while “Love You to Pieces is more on the power ballad side. Somewhere between those to is “Pyschopath,” which has some rather impressive guitar work at the intro. Then there’s the very interesting cover of the Paul McCartney and Wings James Bond classic, “Live and Let Die.” I never imagined that song metalized but Lizzy Borden do a fantastic job on it. The catchy melody combined with hard power chords of “Kiss of Death” just do it for me. It’s my vote for best song on the album. “Red Rum” is very good too with an interesting build up in the middle before a cool guitar solo trade off.

With an album consisting of seventeen songs, it would be easy to get bored with the album. However, all of the songs are good enough individually to hold your interest throughout each of them. It could be because most are under four minutes and pack a lot of energy into them in that short length of time. Therefore, full marks must be given to the band for playing so well. After hearing the two albums, I ask why Lizzy Borden isn’t mentioned more among metal singers or Gene Allen and Alex Nelson among guitarists. They all do a good job here.

Track Listing:

1. Council for the Caldron
2. Flesheater
3. Warfare
4. No Time to Lose
5. Rod of Iron
6. Save Me
7. Godiva
8. Psychopath
9. Love You to Pieces
10. Live and Let Die
11. Kiss of Death
12. Red Rum
13. American Metal
14. Give Them The Axe
15. Finale
16. Dead Serious
17. Wake Up, Time to Die

Lizzy Borden

Lizzy Borden- lead vocals

Gene Allen- guitars

Alex Nelson- guitars

Joey Scott- drums

Mikey Davis- bass

So after hearing “Menace to Society” and at HMO’s suggestion, the 1989 “Masters of Disguise” albums plus this live album, I can say that I am now a Lizzy Borden fan. On another note, I would like to thank all of you, my readers, for coming along for the ride of metal history. If it hadn’t been for all of you, I would never have gotten to 1000 posts.

Next post: Stryper- To Hell With the Devil

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com