Zior / Monument - Before My Eyes Go Blind: The Complete Recordings. 1971; 1973; 2018 England

Zior have something of an image problem. One cannot read about this band without hearing terms like "super heavy", "Black Sabbath", and "people were afraid of us". With that sort of prelude, anything that falls short of the heaviness that Black Sabbath provides is likely to disappoint. And they do... at that level.

That's not to say that Zior doesn't rock out. In fact, they can be at times like a proto Judas Priest - perhaps like Rocka Rolla, but with more urgency just as Priest would later do themselves. If it were only that, then I'd submit Zior would be held more in high esteem today. But they had that gnawing bad habit of throwing in boogie and pub rockers - crowd pleasers as it were - though to be fair that was the expectation of the time. Bands like Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, and Deep Purple were wise to steer clear of that temptation, thus adding to their reputation today.

Grapefruit's (a sublabel of Cherry Red) 4 CD collection gives the buyer everything you could possibly want from this band - and more. The debut - with the negative image cover, and yet another try for Black Sabbath fame - is the album that disappoints the most, though it's still very good in aggregate. Every Inch a Man (there's a title that doesn't play well in these feminine times) is actually their 3rd album, and not released until 1973 (Germany only), unbeknownst to the band for many years! The music here is similar to the debut, but a bit more consistent and heavy.

Monument - the second Zior effort - is the pick of the litter here. Basically the band found themselves on hard times, and the owner of the Beacon label offered them some fast cash if they would make an album the very next day. It was an above board deal, and the band delivered as promised. Since they were under contract elsewhere, the group all took on pseudonyms plus a new band moniker. The music here places the organ more up front, and the compositions (for a lack of a better term) are less commercial and heavier on the whole.

And that was pretty much it for Zior. Until 2018, when half the band reformed for a new album. Spirit of the Gods is a weird reformation album. It's not retro, but it's certainly not modern/commercial either. The album opens with a church organ, so it would seem they were going to be earnest in their attempt to recreate the past. But not really... there's quite a bit of modern electronics here, almost ambient at times. I expected the guitars to be metal, but they avoided that temptation sticking to an early 70s hard rock tone. As a 4th disc to a box set, it's an excellent addition. On its own, one should probably take a pass.

Ownership: CD: 2019 Grapefruit. The box set itself is really great. There's a full booklet with historical liner notes, original artwork, photos, posters, the whole bit. Every Inch a Man had only been reissued prior as a "gray area" pursuit, so this is the first definitive reissue of that album. Which makes sense since the original was released under the cover of darkness as well. And though Spirit of the Gods appears to have been privately released on CD, I could not find evidence of it anywhere. But as noted above, this box set would be the best way to obtain it in any case.