QUARTZ – Stand Up And Fight [Remastered]

The year 1980 was a milestone in Heavy Metal. When the NWOBHM started spreading in England, many bands rose to the occasion with fresh new music bred from 70’s Hard Rock / Metal. In that year many classic albums were released such as Maiden’s Iron Maiden, Priest’s British Steel, AC/DC’s Back In Black, Motorhead’s Ace Of Spades, and the list goes on and on. As Metal started to pitchfork the British isle, so did the late band Quartz with their 1980’s sonic release of Stand Up And Fight.

Quartz started playing a heavy type of Hard Rock before it was called Metal back in the late 70’s and also released their self-titled debut in 1977. Afterwards, with recognition of NWOBHM and the flow of albums, Quartz released their classic Stand Up And Fight, which was partly composed by the band’s singles until that point. The re-release of the album by Metal Mind Productions offers a chance to walk on the memory lane at one of Metal’s starting points. The addition of the track, “Circles”, from the band’s singles release of Stocking Up The Fires Of Hell, elevated this album even more.

In the view of the present, Quartz might look like yet another NWOBHM band that wanted to stay alive through an era of strong tides in Metal music. However, not many bands were able to muster up this kind of release. Quartz, with their music, brought over influences of such acts like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Rainbow, and crafted them into a great display of vintage low-gain heaviness, harmonies and raspy vocals of the 70’s era. Stand Up And Fight might not be as complex as Iron Maiden or as much of a hit machine as British Steel, however, it is enough for you to bang your head o for the traditional beats.

Stand Up And Fight is an 80’s relic of a sweet past that even with today’s efforts to keep it alive with the new bands of the NWOBHM sort, just isn’t close to the pride scene of those days. Metal Mind again did a great service to vintage Metal and help surface the awareness of Metal’s history.

Tracklist

1. Stand Up and Fight
2. Charlie Snow
3. Can’t Say No to You
4. Revenge
5. Stocking Up the Fires of Hell
6. Rock ‘n’ Roll Children
7. Questions
8. Wildfire
9. Circles

Lineup

Mike Taylor – vocals
Mick Hopkins – guitar
Derek Arnold – bass
Malcolm Cope – drums