Blood and Iron Records

         Heavy Metal Label & Mailorder

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PROGAOR12: SOLOMON KANE-Die ByThe Sword (1986-1991) CD £12

Mike Coates is no stranger to Progaor, in fact his bands are the genesis of this label, first with the megacult ASIA CD release that combined the two albums, then with pre-Asia band White Wing lone album, and finally the trilogy is complete with Solomon Kane unreleased recordings! Solomon Kane is Mike Coates basically recording with female singer Deb Marquart. Expect Epic Progressive/Pomp Metal of the highest caliber! The recordings were remastered recently from the original Dat Tape and the results are excellent! We are thrilled to announce this exciting release, as Mike has a very special place on this label.
Complete with 12-page booklet with lyrics, band bio, rare photos and song-by-song comments by Mike Coates.

Solomon Kane was a Progressive Hard Rock band from Rapid City, South Dakota (1981 - 1983).  It was formed by members of the midwestern supergroup ASIA (1976 - 1981), which in turn had been formed from the remains of WhiteWing (1968 - 1975).  ASIA independently released two albums, “ASIA" and "Armed to the Teeth", which have since been re-released as CDs by several labels including Progaor.  WhiteWing was originally on a Minneapolis label called ASI. Progaor also released that album on CD in 2017. The demise of ASIA was a tumultuous one.  Almost immediately after "Armed to the Teeth" was released it was announced over the NBC newswire that a European supergroup was forming and was calling itself ASIA.  Negotiations began with lawyers from both camps and culminated in Brian Lane, manager of Yes and the new band, flying to Rapid City to see our ASIA.  We had been told that the European ASIA had negotiated with at least seven other North American ASIAs and that they had purchased the name from all of these bands.  I personally heard Brian Lane’s attorney read off the trademark numbers from all those bands over the phone and then Lane posed an offer: $5000 cash (we had asked for $100,000 or back-up in a global tour) and that he would take me and our band manager, Michael Chambers, to meet with four major labels on the west coast.  We felt powerless at this point so we acquiesced.  However, months went by with no word from Mr. Lane, and then during that same period our exclusive trademark ownership arrived in the mail!  We contacted Lane and told him the contract with his folks was null and void-fraudulent!  We spent the next two years touring relentlessly as Solomon Kane striving to generate capital for the battle with their attorneys to get the case tried in the US and hopefully in our jurisdiction.  

Shortly after "Armed to the Teeth" was released Larry Galbraith (voice and guitar) had quit the band. His was a very difficult role to replace--an outstanding talent with an incredible range. The rest of the band, Michael English, Doug Johnson, and myself were all from ASIA. At the time, Mike Chambers was co-owner of a bar in Rapid City called the Barbarian and it served as our center of operations. We practiced in an adjacent space that previously had been a marina shop. At night we would go next door to the Barbarian to listen to singers in all the bands that passed through. After witnessing one particular band who had a female lead singer we huddled together and considered shifting paradigms. We set up an audition with Deb Marquart and it seemed like perhaps (?) we had found our singer. Michael English played bass and sang much of the lead vocal work, so a complement to his sound -a strong female vocalist- seemed viable.  

Deb had been in more of a contemporary Pop band, so when we first talked i was pretty skeptical. She had never really even heard Ian Gillan or Ronnie James Dio. So, one night I left her at my house with a stack of records and I left (probably to tune my stage piano which took several hours!). When I returned her face was ashen and I thought, well . . . this isn’t going to happen. But much to her credit she accepted the gig! At first we tried to do material more in her wheelhouse, e.g. Heart, Rossington-Collins, Smith, Jefferson Airplane, but she soon launched into Rainbow, AC/DC, Black Sabbath (Dio), Zeppelin, and my originals. And she could wail! Deb also learned basic keyboard skills which added greatly to our band trio sound. We traveled with a sound man, a light man, a very large sound system, full stage lighting, full stage gear, and band--all in a large, black truck. So, the overhead was pretty high and the schedule was intense. We would go out for four to six weeks and then return home to play the Barbarian. In early ‘83 when we returned home, Mike English informed us he was leaving the band. Doug gave his notice as well. I was devastated. I was coming up on my 30th birthday and this was all I had ever done. By this time I was madly in love with Deb. I’ll never forget the day the truck pulled out to take her back to Moorhead, Minnesota. I just died. Within months i left Rapid City to be with her. When I got to Moorhead I immediately started teaching guitar. Then that fall I enrolled at Moorhead State University and was soon teaching for them as well. They had a new music industry program so I felt that maybe I had found my place. Deb had her old job back as a secretary/router at a big equipment (Crane) company. She had been appearing as a lounge singer for a while (a la Rickie Lee Jones) and then in a band (the Debonaires). The following year we got married. I had lots of band offers but nothing of the quality of ASIA/Solomon Kane so I just focused on school and teaching. The MSU facility had been building a recording studio, but nobody really knew how to run it let alone wire it all up.  So I spent several years overseeing that operation (in no small part with Mitch Gallagher now of Sweetwater Sound). And as we got it up and running I began to record my guitar method book -”Chase the Dragon” (my master’s thesis)- and the Solomon Kane songs I had written. I taught at MSU from 1984 - 1995 and was constantly recording. The following songs were recorded in that humble little 8-track studio with me performing all the instrumental parts and Deb singing everything.  My good friend, Adam Lien, created my new website last year and I opted to include all the Solomon Kane originals. In truth, most of those pieces were written during ASIA’s final year. So I have always thought of this collection as ASIA III. (Mike Coates)

File Under: Pomp Rock. Epic Progressive Metal. 

For fans of: Lordian Guard, Legend (U.S.), Heart and Kansas.  

SECOND PRESS!

STILL HOT!

PROGAOR09: MANTIS-s/t CD £12

Released in 1973 on the Sweet Plum label, this female fronted Progressive Hard Rock band is not only an unique diamond of the rich 70's Canadian Rock scene (imagine Max Webster and Alex Harvey Band with female vocals and the heaviness of Uriah Heep and you'll get there). This rare LP is now released for the first time on CD in european ground, digitally remastered, with liner notes and a bonus unreleased track (Suzi Quatro cover). Maybe Kim Mitchell took influences from Mantis? Who knows! The dynamic Progressive Hard Rock flowing with some Glam influences, makes this album a quite unique gem for the year of 1973, from a country that gave us so much great Rock bands over the glorious decades of the 70's and 80's.

File Under: Progressive Hard Rock, Glam Rock. 

For fans of: Earth and Fire, Max Webster, Uriah Heep and Alex Harvey Band.

DO NOT MISS IT!

DR09: ROSANNA'S RAIDERS- Before & After the Fire 1985-2019 (We Are Raiders 35th Anniversary) DOUBLE CD £15

Collection of selected studio recordings made from 1996 until 2019, that encapsulate what would be RR's third album, after a long hiatus. 

Some of these songs were released previously on Rosanna Palmer's solo albums, self-released in Australia for the Christian worship music market, so a careful pick'n'mix selection was made for all the RR fans out there who never heard these amazing songs. The 2019 song 'I'm Rising" is an exclusive (outside Australia) for this release. Recorded at the time this project was settled, impressively, it's one of their heaviest tracks ever recorded, much in the style of "We are Raiders"!
Speaking of "We are Raiders", that rare 1985 cassette never released on vinyl and only presented as bonus CD in a U.S. reissue from 2007 of their both albums, will be presented on this release too as a bonus second disc, so it will be the first time it is released in Europe.

Rosanna's Raiders were a female fronted Hard Rock power trio formed in the early 80s in Australia similar to Christian Rock bands like Petra, Resurrection Band or even comparable to Christian female fronted melodic Metal/Hard Rock bands Ransom and Arsenal. 
After two domestic cassette releases in 1985 and 1986, they have their first international release, "Calling Down Fire", released in 1988 by the Christian Metal/Rock label Pure Metal (Part of Refuge label). Basically the songs were the same ones of "Run The Race" cassette released two years earlier in Australia. 

In 1989 they have their second album, "Clothed in Fire," released this time by the Refuge imprint. 

In the 90’s, Rosanna, David, and Johno, along with other musicians have continued to record sporadically (Rosanna Palmer and her husband, bass player David Palmer) under the name of Rosanna Palmer. Listening to the new song "I'm Rising", Rosanna's voice still keeps it's power from the past; in fact, we can consider Rosanna Palmer the best female Christian Hard Rock singer and the music style continues to be the melodic Hard Rock/Heavy Metal that you've heard on the 80's albums.

Presented with a 16-page booklet containing lyrics, rare photos, liner notes from David Palmer and remastered sound. 

For fans of: Petra, Rez Band, Arsenal, Ransom.

CD1:

01.I'm Rising

02.Sinking Sand

03.Keep On Dreaming

04.I Will Love You

05.Changed Life

06.I Met A Man

07.To Have It All

08.Lonely Child

09.Where Does My Hope Come From

10.A Little Bit Of Love

11.Stolen Innocence

12.There's More To You

13.Risen

14.Let Your Voice Be Heard

15.So Many Voices

CD2:

01 We Are Raiders/Reflections

02 When You Woke Up This Morning

03 Spotlight

04 Masks

05 You Are My Rock

06 Why Don't People Care

07 Hiding Behind Closed Doors

08 Whose Side Are You On

09 Mr. Magic

10 He Is Coming (Are You Ready)

11 One Man (BONUS TRACK)