Mastered and partially restored by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY, February - March 2016
Legendary US Metal band Warlord was formed in 1981 by Mark Zonder and William J. Tsamis. One year later, in 1982, the song "Lucifer's Hammer" (based on a novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle) appeared on the prestigious compilation album "Metal Massacre II". This resulted in a deal with Metal Blade Records, with Warlord recording their debut mini-album. "Deliver Us" was released in 1983 and is today considered as the blueprint for what was later to be called "Epic Metal". "Deliver Us" was followed by "And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun..." in 1984. Technically speaking, it was a soundtrack album promoting the full-length video the band had filmed themselves. A bold move in the year 1984. As one can imagine, financing was not that easy, as drum legend Mark Zonder explains: "I borrowed a bunch of money as we thought a great way to promote the band was to make a video that people around the world could see as touring was difficult and rather expensive. Metal Blade did not put up a dime for this. So much for support and helping to break the band. People don't know it, but with all of the technical problems in doing this, what you see on film is all that we shot. It was a one-take video! We thought we would shoot multiple time and edit, but as it worked out, there was no time. That is why you see very, very little of the drums." "And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun..." contained partly unreleased material and partly material from "Deliver Us". Wouldn't it have been better to have followed "Deliver Us" with a second, all-new studio album? "We were more concerned with showing the world the band in a visual sense," is Mark Zonder's answer. "Remember, there was no internet and youtube. We had several meetings with top managers and booking agents and they all said the same thing ... great stuff but your label will never support it to the point that it needs to be. We were kind of dead in the water. Also at the time, Metal Blade did not want another record, that is why we did the "Aliens"/"Lost And Lonely Days" 12" single. Their idea. Believe me, we had plenty of songs ready to go apart from those..." So in a way, with "And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun..." being a video soundtrack album and "Deliver Us" a studio record, it is hard to compare the two. Mark Zonder cites the similarities: "Both had nasty production as money was very tight. "Deliver Us" was done for $800. It was an eight track recording with both bass drums and the bass guitar shoved to one track. "And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun..." had even worse production from a studio that could not even get the phasing correct as we found out when it was time to master. I still think to this day "Deliver Us" is a classic, without a doubt." Same as "Deliver Us", the High Roller Records de luxe triple vinyl re-issue of "And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun..." contains a multitude of fantastic bonus material, carefully mastered and partially restored by Patrick W. Engel at his Temple Of Disharmony between February and March 2016. "If you are talking about all of the demos and stuff," says Mark Zonder, "my favourite is 'The Rainbow' as well as 'Child Of The Damned' sung by a singer auditioning named Steve Fontaine." Up until the present day, people argue about who the main protagonist in Warlord was: Mark Zonder or William J. Tsamis (whom Mark tends to call Bill)? "Warlord was Bill's concept," states Mark Zonder. "I jumped on board, but it was him. He had a million different ideas that were spectacular. Very imaginative and creative but just never got the chance for mass exposure." Matthias Mader
