HOLOCAUST - No Man's Land CD HRR 635 CD, ltd 500 John Mortimer - vocals, guitars, bass Steve Cowen - drums 01 No Man's Land 02 We Will Rock and We Will Roll 03 No Time Left 04 Let's Go 05 On the Ropes 06 Satellite City 07 Power Play 08 By the Waterside 09 Missing Presumed Dead 10 Alone 11 Here Come the Good Times SOLD OUT!

The roots of Edinburgh’s finest, Holocaust, one of the most legendary bands of the entire New Wave Of British Heavy Metal period, go way back to 1977, the year punk broke. Garry Lettice (vocals), Robin Begg (bass), Nick Brockie (drums) and main man John Mortimer (guitar) were together at the same high school and conspired to form a band at the tender age of 13. Before settling on Holocaust, they had toyed around with some alternative names (e.g. Buzzard, Apollo and also Preying Mantis). John Mortimer remembers: “The first actual sounds made together – beyond air guitar – would be October/November 1978. I especially remember January until March 1979, when ‘Heavy Metal Mania’ and ‘The Nightcomers’ were written; I always remember there was a lot of snow, a lot of sunshine – and just a magical energy in the air.” When Paul Collins replaced Nick Brockie on drums and Ed Dudley was added on second guitar, the classic line-up of Holocaust was completed. The band signed to local label Phoenix Records and after two singles in 1980, »Heavy Metal Mania« and »Coming Through«, released their legendary debut album »The Nightcomers« in 1981. After the live album »Live (Hot Curry & Wine)« (1983) including a version of “The Small Hours”, later covered by Metallica, all was not well in the Holocaust camp. Second guitarist Ed Dudley had left the band to form his own project called Hologram, leaving John Mortimer to pick up the pieces. Mortimer soldiered on with the help of Steve Cowen on drums, taking over bass and vocal duties all on his own. The result was 1984’s »No Man’s Land«, an album which was not able to match the brilliance of »The Nightcomers« nor the raw energy of »Live (Hot Curry & Wine)«. Back in 1984, »No Man’s Land« was only put out on vinyl (via Phoenix Records) and never re-issued. It’s now for the very first time that the record is being made available on CD as a very limited edition by High Roller Records. Matthias Mader