3.5 out of 5 Stars!

The wonderfully named Bang, a horribly overlooked Philadelphia-based band, released a trio of albums in the early ’70s before disappearing for about twenty-five years to release several additional albums.

On the band’s debut from 1971, heavy tracks such as “The Queen,” “Future Shock,” “Redman,” “Lions, Christians,” “Questions,” and “Come With Me,” seemed to me a cross between hard-driving groups such as Grand Funk Railroad and Black Sabbath, especially the latter when it came to some of Frank Glicken’s more driving and sinister guitar riffs. Additionally, bassist and lead vocalist Frank Ferrara sounded quite a bit like Ozzy Osbourne in tone and delivery on the more metal tracks, but on the sole acoustic-guitar enhanced track, “Last Will and Testament,” not so much.

Anyway, call it Hard Rock, or perhaps Proto-Metal, or even Heavy Psych, the band’s music had major potential, as this album clearly shows, and both this release as well as the group’s sophomore effort (Mother/Bow To The King) are worth investigating.

Get The Album Now!