4th March 2020

Under The Influence #36: Opposition Party talk “Where Legend Began” by English Dogs!

Back in 1986, English Dogs delivered their third and most successful album in the form of “Where Legend Began” via Under One Flag, a subsidiary label of Music For Nations based in London England, which now defunct was responsible for re-releasing a wealth of Metal material on vinyl and for the numerous albums from the likes of Bathory, Nuclear Assault and Forbidden. Having formed in Grantham back in 1981 and undergone numerous line up changes, “Where Legend Began” saw ex-Ultraviolent singer Ade Bailey, ex-Destructors guitarist Graham “Gizz” Butt, bassist Mark “Wattie” Watson and original drummer Andrew “Pinch” Pinching enter Matrix Studios in London to record with Saxon and Motörhead drummer Peter Gill. Not only producing, he also engineered mixed the album, which was influenced by the rising Thrash Metal scene with Butt adding Metal riffs to create a Crossover sound…

Francis Frightful from Opposition Party: “By the mid 80s’s, most of the UK82 bands (and it wasn’t called street punk back then!) had incorporated some form of metal – mostly speed-metal – into their traditional second wave punk sound. This made most of these bands’ releases having faster and more aggressive songs but the one album by a classic UK hardcore punk that took the metal concept furthest was “Where Legend Began” by English Dogs. This album played a big part in influencing the Opposition Party sound that was becoming more and more metallic. On my first listen to “Where Legend Began”, it hit me in the face with NWOBHM Iron Maiden-ish riffs, complex song structures, neo-classical solos and yet retains a somewhat raw punky feel in general. Totally blew me away! And as mentioned earlier, although there were many punk bands crossing over with metal in the 80’s, this particular album to me, was the most ultimate, down to its mythological theme!”