Blue Murder was a melodic heavy metal band from England, originally the brainchild of guitar virtuoso, John Sykes. Upon Sykes' firing from the most successful version of Whitesnake, the former Tygers Of Pan Tang and Thin Lizzy axe-man set out to create a similar sounding bluesy hard rock band. They released two studio albums and one live album before breaking up in 1994. Ray Gillen, most famous for singing for Black Sabbath and Badlands, sang for an early version of Blue Murder, and reportedly the band recorded demos with him, but no albums. Another interesting thing to note is that John Sykes was himself once in a different band also called Badlands.

BLUE MURDER (1989) GEFFEN

Blue Murder was sort of an all-star supergroup, led by John Sykes (Tygers Of Pan Tang, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy). And the music played is the same bluesy hard rock/melodic heavy metal you'd expect from the names featured in the group. John Sykes is obviously the "star" here, showing off some guitar-wizardry, and singing his lungs out. The band originally had both Ray Gillen and Cozy Powell in the line-up, but when push came to shove, John took it upon himself to do most of the work himself. The album was produced by Bob Rock, and it's not had to hear who's behind the slick and polished sound. Still there are some great songs on this CD, and my favorites includes the Thin Lizzy-esq opener, the rockin' "Riot", and the epic Whitesnake-sounding, "Valley Of The Kings". I would say that Blue Murder can function as a picture of what melodic hard rock was all about in 1989, and this album is a the blueprint of the genre.

The band also recorded a follow-up album, named 'Nothin' But Trouble'. But by the time it was released in 1993, the original line-up had split up, and John Sykes had found 2 new members for the band. A Japan only live album, called 'Screamin' Blue Murder', was released in 1994, but then the band spilt up for good. Big hair and flashy guitar-heroes were no longer welcome with the biggest record companies by then.

Killer tracks: Riot, Valley Of The Kings, Jelly Roll, Blue Murder, Out Of Love

Carmine Appice guest appearances:

Kiss - Paul Stanley

V/A - 'Dragon Attack: A Tribute to Queen'

Tony Franklin guest appearances:

V/A - 'Dragon Attack: A Tribute to Queen'

Audiovision - 'The Calling'