To be honest I never really expect much from covers albums unless there’s a big name involved or some sort of clever twist is thrown into the mix, but to be honest this one is the exception to the rule.
‘Conquest’ may not be a household name to some but we’ve always had a soft spot for their brand of Thrash at The Rockpit, and after a bit of softening up with some Judas Priest (‘Metal Gods’ and ‘The Ripper’ open up the album) I was already on board and really enjoyed the takes on Maiden’s ‘Wrathchild’ and Metallica’s ‘For Who the Bell Tolls’.
It’s the Thrashy cover of ‘Ace of Spades’ though where the band really starts to shine and show its true colours, it’s as good a cover of the song as I’ve heard, and what they do with Anthrax’s ‘Antisocial’ isn’t bad either, though it’s the Hard Rocking ‘Light’s Out (In London)’ originally by UFO that is probably my favourite here, few bands do UFO from the Schenker-era well but Conquest inject a bit of Metal without overdoing things.
And if you thought that was a decent stab at a classic then ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ by Bon Jovi works even better with a metal sheen!
The album rounds out with some Motley Crue in ‘Red Hot’ with a vocal that sounds better than Vince Neil; some Pantera; and Ozzy-era Sabbath in ‘Children of the Grave’ and of course everyone sounds better than Ozzy!
The band started doing a ‘tribute’ section in their live shows in 2014 and this release comes from that idea, its great fun, beautifully played and well worth checking out.
