Review: Tygers of Pan Tang – Majors & Minors

Mighty Music (May 28th 2021)

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

I am ashamed to admit this, but I am not familiar with the music of Tygers of Pan Tang (please do not blame or send hate responses to Rockposer Dot Com). They are just one of those bands that never popped into my radar despite my existence of them circling the peripherals of my hard rock brain. Fortunately for me, Tygers of Pan Tang are releasing a compilation album of their more recent studio albums to reach older fans (and ignorant reviewers) not familiar with the last decade and a half of their music.

‘Majors & Minors‘ compiles the last four studio albums to feature lead singer Jacopo (Jack) Meille to get the word out that the Tygers, while being a part of the NWOBHM, are still a force to be reckoned with. If you are a fan of the band, then there are no surprises here, but there are two tracks at the end that feature songs never before released on a CD/album format (‘What You Say‘ and ‘Plug Me In‘) and an orchestral mix of the track ‘Spoils of War‘.

In a way, this is the perfect album for me to review. Since I am not familiar with their music, it’s like this album was made for people like me in mind. Hopefully you are not like me because I have been missing out for years. This is a tremendous collection of songs.

If you know and purchased/listened to the music from their last four albums, then I’m just preaching to the choir and you can scroll down to the next paragraph to see my review of the new tracks. For everyone else not familiar, the music is the classic approach to hard rock/heavy metal of the early 80s with modern day production. Unsure of what to expect from the band and aware of their decades of history, I expected them to sound similar to a band like Uriah Heep.  While there are certain similarities, that is not the sound of the Tygers. It’s a well-oiled machine of great hard rock riffs and thunderous melodies that has me wanting to check out all the albums these songs appear on. They can easily compete alongside today’s array of hard rock/heavy metal acts. This is far from a band on its last legs struggling to capture their passion from days long gone. I wish more acts from the late 70s/early 80s had the same drive these guys have.

Regarding the new songs, I decided to check out the original ‘Spoils of War‘ to compare it to the new composition. The orchestration adds an interesting dynamic, fits the song very well, and should absolutely be checked out by fans of the band, even if you have the original. ‘What You Say’ has a catchy hard rock riff and absolutely belongs on an album that could be considered a Greatest Hits package. ‘Plug Me In‘, a previously released B-side, has a boogie vibe similar to Y&T and is just as essential.

If you own nothing from this band, you use to be a fan from back in the day but have lost track, or you think the band is no longer worth checking out because of member changes, then you owe it to yourself to give these songs a chance. This album is the perfect way to do just that.