Certif1ed Very highly regarded song among NWoBHM connoisseurs, and it certainly has a striking introduction, and creative makeup.

Personally, I find it a bit weedy and lacking in energy.

Things to like; It's not your bog standard Priest clone, there are plenty of changes and each band member, drummer apart, is doing their own thing, and the arrangement is full of interest.

Things to not like so much; The guitars are submerged and rather honky, the vocals are annoyingly screechy and the lyrics are all cheap, predictable Lord of the Rings references, the bass is dull and has no character, the guitar solo is widdly, and the drums are crap.

Flip the single over, and there's a bit more energy, topped with a Halford-esque scream, and another interesting arrangement. The guitars chug nicely here, and the soloing, of which there is ooodles, is fluent and melodic on the whole, with a great sense of purpose and atmosphere, but the song itself is unmemorable, and the subject matter most peculiar. Ice Cream Theme... really? Could there be some hidden drugs references in there? Surely not!

In summary, I do not find "War of the Ring" to be the "Perfect Anthem" that many others do, but I will concede that it is a highly commendable effort to create something new and exciting - and a path which many metal bands have since explored to better effect, so roots recognition is assured, and recommended particularly to fantasy/doom/creative metal fans as well as the NWoBHM curious.

Certif1ed The sheer diversity of metal, as defined by the NWoBHM just staggers me sometimes, and ARC's Tribute (to Mark Hailwood) is simply brilliant, in terms of originality and invention.

As a piece of music, the A side falls a bit short, however, while the flipside, For My Next Kick fares considerably better on all fronts.

Mark Hailwood was a British motorcycle champion, exceptionally gifted and daring by all accounts, who campaigned hard on issues of road safety, and was awarded the George cross for an incident in which he attempted to rescue a colleague from a burning vehicle.

The title track, then doesn't really conjure up the excitement and speed of motor racing in the same way as, say, Saxon's Motorcycle Man or the Pink Fairies' Raceway - or even Montrose's Bad Motor Scooter.

Still, the conception is original, and the structuring of the song is interesting and varied, carrying a good deal of the Fairies' energy and some interesting tempo changes - not to mention Montrose style bike effects on the guitar.

The lyrics get a bit cheesey quite quickly though, but not in the way we NWoBHM fans like 'em, and frankly, the lead vocal is lame overall, with nothing to redeem the words.

What's to like, though, is the high-energy skin-pounding that drives the solid bass, stabbing rhythms and fluid lead lines and, like I said earlier, it gets better on the other side;

For my next kick is a most curiously structured piece, with equally curious lyrics. Again, I'm strongly reminded of the Pink Fairies, but with more structure. Here, there's all the energy, the vocals are better, and the structure lends a driving tension to the song, with perfectly timed releases of energy - until the unnerving and skewed tempo change at 1:40.

The vocal range is extended here into Priest/Mercyful Fate territory - and there's some definite Groundhogs influence is present. There's certainly an early 1970s vibe running through the whole piece, which fits nicely with the smokin' high gain chugs of the NWoBHM.

5 out of 10 for the A side - a bit below average, but interesting technically.

9 out of 10 for the B side - very enjoyable and even more technically interesting.