Born from the ashes of New Wave of British Heavy Metal contenders Angel Witch, London, England's Tytan was cobbled together in the second half of 1981 by that first band's erstwhile rhythm section of bassist Kevin Riddles and drummer Dave DuFort, after they forged a partnership with Scottish-born singer Kal Swan and guitarists Steve Gibbs and Stuart Adams (soon to be replaced by ex-A II Z man Gary Owens and then ex-Lionheart member Steve Mann). Given their proven pedigree, Tytan quickly benefited from enthusiastic press interest, including an always coveted mention in Kerrang! Magazine and a Friday Rock Show session cut in early 1982, but they refused to circulate demos, expecting that press and word of mouth from their well-received live performances to carry them swiftly toward a major-label record company contract. But when this rather naïve expectation did not come to pass, impatience finally got the best of Tytan's memebership, which wound up signing with modest independent Kamaflage and releasing its first single, "Blind Men and Fools", before year's end. At first, brisk sales and positive reviews of the band's edgy yet accessible heavy rock (reminiscent of Samson, Tygers of Pan Tang, and even early Def Leppard) seemed to suggest a bright future was guaranteed; but everything fell apart for Tytan shortly after the recording of their debut album, Rough Justice, in 1983. Even before the sessions got under way, drummer DuFort and the aforementioned Owens took their leave, and while the former's replacement by legendary Judas Priest percussionist Les Binks seemed like a win-win proposition (later on, future AC/DC and Dio man Simon Wright would also make an appearance), Kamaflage proceeded to go bankrupt before the album ever saw the light of day. This cast Tytan's career into a hopeless state of limbo as all company assets were sequestered by the courts, and so Rough Justice would not gain an official vinyl release until 1985 (and no compact disc release until 2004). By that time, the members of Tytan had long ago drifted apart and moved on to other endeavors, but both their talent and potential have definitely been retroactively vindicated by critics and fans alike, whatever that's worth in rock & roll. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi

Airrace, Tytan

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