Persian Risk were one of the most promising acts of the glorious New Wave Of British Heavy Metal era. But somehow luck was not on their side. They originally formed in Cardiff (in the area of Rhydyfelin to be precise) in 1979. Their debut 7" single ?Calling for you? is a precious collectors item today, followed by ?Ridin' High? on Neat Records in 1983 and the ?Too different? 12" EP a year later. However, the first longplayer ?Rise up? was not released until 1986 (issued on Metal Master), by then the N.W.O.B.H.M. was truly over. A case of too little too late. The original incarnation of Persian Risk split up for good in 1986 (with only one single gig played in London in 1996 including Paul Di'Anno guesting on ?Jane?). Quite surprisingly, vocalist Carl Sentance (one of the truly great singers of the N.W.O.B.H.M. period) reformed the group recently. The new album ?Once a King? is one of the best comeback albums in recent Metal history. It contains eleven high-octane Metal anthems and was completely financed by Carl Sentance himself, who comments: ?It was worth every penny. I love rock music and wanna do more and more ...? ?Once a King? contains seven brand new compositions plus four re-recorded versions of old Persian Risk numbers: ?There are 'Riding high' and 'Women and Rock' first of all. 'Once a King' and 'Battlecry' are old songs too that never got released. I always wanted to record them. I wrote and produced the remaining seven tracks with lyrics from Sarah Clarricoates and myself. I did try to write as though it was back then in the early 1980's but I think it's impossible - we were in our early 20's.? The new line up of Persian Risk features two very renowned musicians, legendary keyboard player Don Airey and Chris Childs (bass, formerly of Thunder). Both are friends of Carl: ?Yeah, I work with both of them, more so with Don as I write, record and tour with him but they are session musicians on my albums.? The re-animated Persian Risk are very much an active unit again and will play ?Hard Rock Hell? in North Wales on the 29th of November. They also received an offer for ?Keep It True? in 2014. Back in the early 1980's Persian Risk was a band with great promise but somehow they underachieved due to various reasons. Carl Sentance tries to explain: ?Yeah, we should have done more but I guess we didn't have the right people looking after us and I had the opportunity to sing with Geezer Butler and I took it! I always thought what if, what if ...? The band also had a big fluctuation of members (including a certain Phil Campbell departing to join Mot?rhead), maybe that was one aspect of them not doing as well as expected. Carl somehow agrees: ?At the beginning, yes, there were changes but that was trying to find a great band. Phil left for a good reason, right! But after that we were a solid, stable band.? According to Carl Sentance, Welshman Phil Campbell was one of the few musician not contacted for the Persian Risk re-union: ?I spoke with most of them by phone or mail but not Phil. I tried to get the original band together but they were busy or not ready to put the time in.? Not a lot of people know that Carl Sentance was not the original Persian Risk singer. Before him there was a certain Jon Deverill. Now this Jon Deverill went on to record some fantastic records with the Tygers Of Pan Tang and was tipped to become the new Iron Maiden singer after Paul Di'Anno had left in 1981 (would he have been the better choice than Bruce?). Sentance comments on Deverill: ?Yes, he was cool, a really nice guy and he looked the part. Now he's a West End star, how cool is that?? Carl Sentance himself was always in demand as a singer after the split of Persian Risk, joining Swiss legends Krokus for example. In the mid-1990's he temporarily moved to the United States of America: ?Yes, I lived there on and off for six years but it was a struggle for USA Risk as the music changed drastically with Grunge etc. So I decided to come home. That's when I joined Krokus! More info on this is on my site history page www.carlsentance.com Now I'm based in Leicestershire and keep busy with Persian Risk, Don Airey and The Classic Rock Show! I wanna keep singing and performing, and if I can sell a solo album, I thought why not try and re-animate Risk?? German label High Vaultage re-issued the "Rise up" album on CD in 1997 but unfortunately the band never got paid for this release: ?No, we weren't paid! I wasn't good with business then and I guess we should have looked into it more. You snooze, you looze, right?? Matthias Mader
