Gaskin - End of the World. 1981 England

By 1983 I could tell you, with a high degree of certainty, that I knew all the primary New Wave of British Metal groups. I may not have heard them all, but at least I was aware of them. As has been the case throughout my life, I was more interested in the challenging groups verse the "I wanna rock n' roll" bands. I was on the lookout for more Iron Maiden and Diamond Head that is to say. Other than some archival groups, or those who had put out obscure tapes, that position held until... 2020. While doing some research on the greatest metal bands of the early 80s, I ran across this title. Who? No way I would have missed a gatefold cover like that! In those days, album covers, titles, and tracks lengths were about all there was to go on. And perhaps a feature in Kerrang. 

Guitarist and vocalist Paul Gaskin provides the name and leads the way here with a thoughtful metal album. It's definitely heavy in the same sense as Maiden, though it becomes clear the band is not trying too hard to be part of the metal scene. And that is by design, as Gaskin stated he was more interested in releasing a sophisticated heavy rock album. One influence you'll pick up on is that of Rush, and in this way the obscure UK prog group Trilogy comes to mind. No questioning that End of the World is a metal album verse prog, but the elements are present. Overall, an excellent album that I can't believe I'm hearing about for the first time some 40 years later.

Ownership: LP: 1981 Rondelet. Gatefold. Acquired from JL before the Austin Record Show (2023). This replaces the High Roller LP reissue that was the source of this entry. It isn't mint so I played it all the way through to be sure I wanted to swap them out, and yes it played great. The reissue offers a high quality rendition of the gatefold cover, good sound (don't think it's from the masters though), and little else. Liner notes would have been nice. The decision to keep the original was an easy one.

11/9/20 (new entry); 5/17/23