[Heavy Metal] Fortbragg

[Painkiller]

Fortbragg was one of the earliest bands that current Galneryus vocalist Sho -- whose real name is Masatoshi Ono -- fronted. They formed in 1980, but didn't release anything until 1989 with a demo and 1990 with an EP, and then just folded from there. Ichiro Nagai, who would eventually land a throne for Concerto Moon throughout the late 1990s and then Ark Storm since at least 2003, was a part of the band in their short run, having recorded his killer drumming on the band's unappreciated sole EP. So, if you're a fan of all the aforementioned bands, then you'd dig Fortbragg. Sho sounds very much like Loudness' Minoru Niihara on these songs, which is pretty cool to hear. The music is just very straight-forward, driving heavy metal -- the way it should be, honestly. If you like mid-period Sabbrabells, Anthem, or early Saber Tiger, then Fortbragg's self-titled 1990 EP would be of interest to you.

Speaking of which, I just got lucky with the EP, winning an auction from Yahoo! Japan Auctions with no competitors at hand -- forty-five dollars down the drain for a complete copy in mint condition. Really good EP that's at least an eight in my book, but a full-length album might've extended that to a nine.