Graceful Inheritance (1986)
Heir Apparent were one of many great bands buried on the French cult label Black Dragon, a label I was keeping a close eye on given that's where Manilla Road resided. Despite this, I completely forgot about the name Heir Apparent until recent times, if I knew them at all. I don't recall seeing their album in the college record store bins nor seeing writeups in the metal mags I followed at the time. Even if I did flip the record over at some point, I doubt I would have given it much thought, seeing 13 (?!) tracks and short time durations. The longest song here is 5:06, so it doesn't appear they were stretching the boundaries of heavy metal, which is what I would have been looking for.
And now that I'm hearing the album for the first time, I can attest to that last statement. Not groundbreaking at all. That said, I find the music on Heir Apparent's debut very pleasing. It doesn't take long to figure out that the band bears close resemblance to that of same era Queensryche. That's not a coincidence given they often interacted with each other and both were from Seattle. Long before the nihilistic grunge movement was to take over, bands all over the US were more influenced by the fantasy driven NWOBHM groups of the era. Right from the off, you are greeted by Paul Davidson's high pitched yet soothing voice. Sounding every bit like Geoff Tate in his prime without the histrionics. Guitarist Terry Gorle brings a lot of the 70s decade with him, especially in his use of the wah wah pedal on his solos. His tone isn't particularly heavy for the era, so the band relies on melodicism. And it's here that Heir Apparent shines greatest, as it's apparent (had to do it) they spent quite a bit of time both writing and arranging these songs, including the instrumentals.
The greatest part about discovering albums like Graceful Inheritance is that I know I missed tons of excellent metal albums from the mid to late 80s and early 90s. I didn't have much money in college, and once I was released (haha - yea, released) I was way deep into putting paychecks to global prog albums.
Ownership: 1986 Black Dragon (LP). Lyric inner bag.
Also own and need to review their follow up One Small Voice.
9/27/25 (acquired / review)
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