New Wave of British Heavy Metal survivors Jaguar — I don't remember those guys, either — managed to successfully combine traditional heavy metal and speed metal into sort of a Raven-meets-Stormtrooper sound, earning the band the accolades of Metallica's Lars Ulrich eons ago. After a handful of albums, Jaguar broke up.
Run Ragged, recorded in 2002 and released this July, includes only one original member (guitarist Garry Peppard) and stems from a perceived renewed interest in the band. New singer Jamie Manton can scream with the best of the NWOBHM standard-bearers, and his delivery is nothing short of impassioned. Highlights include the soaring-ballad-turned-balls-out-rocker "As the Crow Flies," the riff-heavy bass on "Living Hell" and the melodic dynamic of the aptly named "Eighties." Overall, though, Jaguar does nothing that Iron Maiden, Praying Mantis and Saxon haven't done recently — and done better.
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