It is often the lesser known (though no less important) acts who can define and give a true taste of an era; case in point being English Dogs. Formed in Grantham in 1982, this band of malcontents encapsulated the prevailing sense of urban alienation and cold war paranoia that characterised the early to mid 1980’s and released a series of era-defining records. They now get compiled as Mad Punx & English Dogs 1983-1985, a two-disc set that evidences a band full of proletarian rage and political suss who’ve stood the test of time and whose influence continues to reverberate through both the punk and metal worlds.

Disc One: Mad Punx & English Dogs / Invasion Of The Porky Men

To fully understand the English Dogs’ debut 12” EP, Mad Punx & English Dogs it needs to be placed in historical context. 1983 was the year when unemployment reached the fabled three-million mark, British industry was being systematically dismantled and a huge nuclear stockpile cast a long shadow over us all. It was a time of great upheaval and tribulation and the cry of “No Future” had never seemed so pertinent. However, such conditions are conducive to great art and no band captured the spirit of those times quite like the English Dogs; The Exploited might have coined the term “UK82”, but this Grantham mob were the living embodiment. Released on Clay Records (also home to Discharge) Mad Punx & English Dogs was the perfect mission statement and featured six tracks delivered with spiky neurosis. In an age when metal and punk were viewed as two very different entities, this EP was was hard (and melodic) enough to please both camps and, thanks in no small part to cuts such as ‘Free To Kill’ and ‘R.I.P.’, became one of the very first crossover records. For many bands Mad Punx & English Dogs would have been a case of peaking to early, yet English Dogs had a few more aces up their sleeve.

Striking while the iron was hot, English Dogs convened at Manchester’s Strawberry Studios in early ‘84 to record their debut long player Invasion Of The Porky Men. When listened to back to back with Mad Punx, you can hear a clean lineage between the two releases with the band taking all that was good about the former and finely honing it for the latter. There was still a lot to be angry about in the Orwellian year of 1984 and Invasion positively seethes with indignation. Continuing the saga of Max began on the preceding EP, opening track ‘The Fall Of Max’ rings like a warning siren and acts as a portent for the coming fourteen tracks. The songs are oven ready anthems; hard, yet melodic, you can almost see an army of spiky tops at a rowdy gig singing along and punching the air. Older, and wiser, Invasion flows far better than the EP with the band employing slower moments to add contrast yet there’s still plenty of hold-onto-your-hats moments (such as a cover of Slaughter And The Dogs’ ‘Cranked Up Really High’). Punk doesn’t get much better than this.

Disc Two: To The Ends Of The Earth / Forward Into Battle

By the time English Dogs released To The Ends Of The Earth, it had been all change in their camp. Vocalist Pete “Wakey” Wakefield departed and was later replaced permanently by Adrian Bailey while the band swelled to a five piece with the addition of second guitarist Graham “Gizz” Butt (later of The Prodigy/Janus Stark). Released in September 1984, the four-track EP To The Ends Of The Earth found the band drifting further into metal territory with the Dogs ditching the two-minute bangers and adding more structures to their songs along with guitar solos (shock! horror!). Once seen as the antithesis to punk, the guitar solo adds another dimension to tracks such as ‘Ambassador Of Fear’ and allows the Dogs to explore other musical territory. As with Invasion, you can hear the band evolving, yet it feels like a natural shift rather than a contrived move but the line-up changes have had a huge impact with Adrian’s caustic vocals being more authoritative and the twin guitar attack adding more power and it all added up to a crossover classic.

When thrash metal is fused to hardcore punk in just the right proportions, something rather special happens. It is a mixture that is explosive and volatile (but nice, nonetheless) and brings out the best of both spheres; it’s metal, but without the cheesy lyrics, and punk made all the more potent by technical musicianship. It’s a brew best exemplified by the English Dogs’ sophomore album Forward Into Battle, it found the band’s transmogrification complete, and whilst the band have retained their punk roots, they were in full metal mode and produced an album that could swing with classic Bathory, Venom and Warfare. The remaster is a real boon and whilst there’s been no tinkering with history, a clearer mix brings the twin guitar assault to the fore and that makes cuts such as ‘Ordeal By Fire’ all the more impactful. It also finds the band stretching things to previous unheard limits, as on the six-and-a-half-minute atmospheric closer ‘Brainstorm’. Think early Slayer jamming with Exodus and you’d have a good indication of the musical chaos contained within.

English Dogs would sign with Music For Nations and continue their good work for several more years, continuing to slide into the realm of extreme metal (such as on the aptly-titled Metalmorphosis) but they began to be left behind by a bunch of American upstarts who brought a more technical edge to extreme music. However, if you want to know from where crossover thrash originated, look no further than Mad Punx & English Dogs 1983-1985.

• Mad Punx & English Dogs 1983-1985 is released via Cherry Red Records/Captain Oi! on 11th October 2024.

Track List:

Disc One:

Mad Punx & English Dogs

1.  Max (The Millionaire)

2.  Psycho Killer

3.  Free To Kill

4.  Driven To Death

5.  Left Me For Dead

6.  R.I.P.

Invasion Of The Porky Men

7.  The Fall Of Max

8.  World War 2

9.  Your Country

10.  Blind Man

11.  Mercenary

12.  Never Die

13. Astrophs Waiting

14.  Newsflash

15.  Ghost Of The Past

16.  Carol

17.  Spoils Of War

18.  Cranked Up Really High

19.  Invasion Of The Porky Men

20.  Caveman Brain

Disc Two:

To The Ends Of The Earth

1.  Ambassador Of Fear

2.  The Chase Is On

3.  Incisor

4.  Survival Of The Fittest

Forward Into Battle

5.  Forward Into Battle

6.  The Final Conquest

7.  Ultimate Sacrifice

8.  Ordeal By Fire

9.  False Prophet

10.  Wall Of Steel

11.  Nosferatu

12.  He That Is Bound Shall Be Freed

13.  Five Days To Death

14.  Brainstorm