Origin:	Los Angeles, CA, USA
Genres:	Traditional Metal

White Wizzard

Los Angeles' White Wizzard makes no bones about their love of 80's metal and their desire to bring back that style. After releasing a self-titled EP, they were signed to Earache Records, who promptly repackaged and reissued the EP (same tracks with one song renamed), branding the new EP as High Speed GTO. Just as things were looking up, though, tensions arose within the camp, and founder Jon Leon ended up firing the rest of the band, most of whom moved on to form Holy Grail. Leon put together a new lineup and the result was 2010's Over The Top. Plenty of harmonized guitar leads alongside Leon's prominent basswork make Iron Maiden an obvious reference point, though one could point to any '80's underground band and find a similarity here. That's not to say these guys aren't doing their own thing, but again, reliving and glorifying the past is the goal here, and in that respect these guys are doing it right. The lineup issues may not be over yet, as already two guys that played on Over The Top have been replaced. 80's retro thrash has been all the rage for the last few years, is it now time for retro 80's classic metal? Time will tell.