Search - Vardis :: World's Gone Mad: The Best of Vardis

Another great Castle NWOBHM anthology

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 10/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Here's another great example of why Castle/Sanctuary is so great if you're a fan of the celebrated New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement. I mean, who else would go to the trouble of compiling such an extensive collection of material from a band like Vardis, who hardly ranks as one of the NWOBHM's premiere acts? What Kansas was to the progressive rock scene, Vardis was to the NWOBHM, what with their blues and boogie flavored version of the emerging heavy metal sound. With more similarities to Thin Lizzy than Iron Maiden, they're not exactly what you'd expect from a NWOBHM band, but there's no denying the band's hard charging sound or wild energy.



The good folks at Sanctuary have put together a selection of the best songs from the Vardis catalogue, cleaned up the sound considerably, and provided NWOBHM fans another must-have 2-disc anthology. You get a wide ranging selection of Vardis studio material, plus previously unreleased live songs (perhaps a bit too many for my tastes, but Vardis seems to be one of those bands whose sound is best captured live), all digitally remastered, plus extensive liner notes, all for just a little more than the price of a single CD. Like all of the Sanctuary NWOBHM anthologies, it is well worth checking out, whether you're a die hard fan of that scene or you're just interested in checking out an overlooked piece of metal's history.

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