MORE released 2 albums back in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal period, and both with very different line-ups. It is the band’s debut Warhead that is the better of the 2 and of most interest. On the debut MORE consisted of bassist Brian Day, drummer Fran Darch, guitarists Laurie Mansworth and Kenny Cox, and singer Paul Mario Day, who was known to many as the first Iron Maiden singer. MORE were signed to Atlantic Records (UK, US, etc..) and with US Southern rockers Blackfoot also being on Atlantic (and very popular in the UK at the time) Al Nalli (producer/manager- Brownsville Station, Blackfoot) and Henry Weck (Brownsville Station) were brought in to produce the first album.

The band had debuted on the Friday Rock Show in 1980, playing 4 songs.

Warhead features 8 tracks, with side 1 one opening with a good riff rocker “Road Rocket”. This side also features a decent ‘metal’ version of the Arthur Brown classic “Fire”, which seems like an odd choice for a cover, but as a fan of AB, I find it pretty cool and interesting. It is side 2 which is the better side (IMO), opening with the title track, which features a big intro, which makes me wonder why this wasn’t the first song on the album!? It also includes another fine riff driven rocker in “We Are The Band”, and standout here is the closing cut “I Have No Answers”, which gallops along in places, and to me, is the closest thing to Iron Maiden here. Two singles were released from Warhead – “Fire” in the US, with the non-LP “Lord Of Twilight”, while the UK and other countries got “We Are The Band”, backed with the non-LP “Atomic Rock”.

I don’t know how well Warhead did at the time, but the band did shows in Europe (Monsters Of Rock) , and opened for Iron Maiden on their Killers tour. It seems more of a curious collectable as it features Day (with his connections to Iron Maiden and Sweet), as well as guitarist Laurie Mansworth, who went on to form Airrace, and later manage The Treatment. Both Paul Mario Day and Laurie Mansworth left the band before the 2nd album (tho’ Day had a songwriting credit on it). Paul Mario Day went on to record 2 albums with Wildfire (which included Andy Scott Sweet members Jeff Brown and Bruce Bisland) before joining The Sweet as well. Guitarist Kenny Cox went on to record with ’80s band Mammoth, which also included John McCoy (Gillan) and Nicky Moore (Samson). Cox passed away in 2022 (RIP).

Warhead is well worth checking out, at the least, appealing to fans of Samson, Tank, and a few others from the NWOBHM era. There is a ‘More’ still performing to this day, albeit with no original members.

RIP Paul Mario Day.