The cumbersome NWOBHM acronym was devised to showcase the likes of Tygers Of Pan Tang, who emerged around 1979 to take up the UK cudgels from the fading, Leviathan likes of Sabbath, Zeppelin and Purple. Trouble was, rather than representing an evolution from these formidable old dinosaurs, they represented a smaller, more reduced species.
Time moved forward but the Tygers did not. Having crashed down with the ’79 wave, they decided to pitch their tent on the beach and tread water. Come 2004 and it’s clear that – the 21st-century-fearing Cybernation apart – the previous 25 years had passed them by.
From the lukewarm, revving raunch of Bad Bad Kitty to the dull-as-a-diesel-engine High Speed Highway Superman, to the spiritless, pulseless The Spirit Never Dies, to the aptly titled Deja Vu, Noises From The Cathouse is wilted, generic metal indeed.
No one really saw much point in this album’s existence in 2004, hence the ‘distribution issues’ it suffered; still less is there a point to it now, for anyone other than the most ardent Tygers fans.
