The Almighty - Blood, Fire & Love (Deluxe) (2015)

The bare facts are that former New Model Army guitarist Ricky Warwick formed The Almighty with Andy ‘Tantrum’ McCafferty and Warwick’s former school friends, drummer Stump Monroe and bass guitarist Floyd London.

The real truth is way more important. Their first album “Blood, Fire And Love” spawned the single “Wild And Wonderful” (which got that prick Bruno Brookes suspended on Radio One when he played the unedited version) and was basically the “biker” album. Greasy, obsessed with groove and the sound of young kids enjoying their first taste of rock n roll excess, “Full Force Lovin’ Machine” rather underlines that, but look deeper and there are hints of other stuff. The strings on the title track, the craft in “Gifthorse” and if “Lay Down The Law” even more than any other, owes a debt to Motorhead, then shouldn’t all rock n roll?

Blood, Fire & Love is the first studio album by Scottish rock band The Almighty, released in 1989. A three-disc deluxe edition was released by Spinefarm Records in 2015, including the Blood, Fire & Live album on the second disc, and all of the B-sides from the various singles on disc three.

A press release likened Blood, Fire & Love to "the soundtrack for a biker bar" -- an honest description of a freewheeling, gutsy effort that never sounds contrived or formulaic. In contrast to so many of the "hairspray" bands out at the time -- many of which seemed to be more concerned with their image than their music -- the Scottish band (which had a small following) thrived on spontaneity and rawness. Inspiring comparisons to bands ranging from the Cult to Steppenwolf, Blood was one of the finest hard rock CDs of 1989.