Tygers Of Pan Tang – Electrifyed: The Tygers Still Have Their Claws

Album Review Glen Parkes of Jace Media Music

There are bands that belong to history, and then there are bands that refuse to become history. Tygers Of Pan Tang have spent more than four decades proving they belong firmly in the second category. With Electrifyed, released September 11, 2026, through Mighty Music, the NWOBHM veterans don’t simply look back at where they came from—they pick up the weight of that history and turn it into something aggressively relevant for today.

Formed in Whitley Bay in 1978, Tygers Of Pan Tang were there when the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was beginning to reshape British rock. Their debut Wild Cat arrived in 1980 and reached number 18 in the UK album chart, while subsequent releases such as Spellbound and The Cage established the band as one of the movement’s key names. That heritage matters, but Electrifyed is not a museum piece.

From the opening seconds of ‘Rise Up!’, there is a sense that the band have deliberately turned the volume knob beyond comfortable. Jack Meille’s vocals sit perfectly against a guitar attack that feels muscular, direct and unapologetically heavy. Founding guitarist Robb Weir remains the central figure, but the arrival of John Foottit adds another layer of firepower, giving the current five-piece a beautifully balanced twin-guitar sound. And that heaviness is exactly what Meille promised. The band’s mantra during the writing process was, essentially, the heavier the better—and they have certainly delivered on that brief.

‘Forevermore’ brings the melodic side of the Tygers into focus, proving that aggression and melody can coexist without one weakening the other. It is a particularly important ingredient because melody has always been part of the band’s identity. Electrifyed understands that you don’t need to abandon the past to make the present sound powerful.

‘The Powers That Be’ pushes harder, while ‘Dark Divinity’ brings a darker atmosphere to the record. There is something wonderfully traditional about the songwriting here, but the production gives everything a contemporary punch.

The title track, ‘Electrifyed’, is another highlight. At over five minutes, it gives the band room to stretch their musical muscles, with Weir and Foottit creating the sort of guitar partnership that reminds you why the twin-guitar attack became such an important part of British metal. Then comes ‘A Shadow On Fire’, followed by ‘The Nail’, where the rhythm section of Craig Ellis and Huw Holding provides the foundation for the guitars to attack from above. ‘The Fight Goes On’ feels almost like a mission statement. After everything this band has experienced, that title could hardly be more appropriate. The closing stretch of ‘Dark Skies’ and ‘Revenge Is Sweet’ leaves the listener with one overriding impression: these Tygers are not finished.

Produced with Marco Angioni, Electrifyed successfully captures what the band set out to achieve—an album rooted in the raw spirit of the late 1970s and early 1980s but delivered with modern weight and clarity.

What makes the record particularly satisfying is that it doesn’t attempt to pretend the Tygers are still 20-year-olds standing at the beginning of the NWOBHM. They don’t need to. This is a band that knows exactly what it helped create, understands why it mattered, and still has something to say.

Electrifyed isn’t nostalgia. It’s experience turned up loud.