Relics From the Crypt – the sub-label of Dying Victims Productions dedicated to keeping the past alive – announces December 19th as the international release date for reissues of Not Fragile’s cult Who Dares Wins mini-album on 12” vinyl format and the band’s One Way to Glory album on CD and vinyl LP formats: Videopremiere: NOT FRAGILE | DEAF FOREVER
One of the best hard-luck stories in the rich history of German heavy metal, Not Fragile were originally active from 1980 to 1990. During that decade, the band released a couple demos, an EP, and an almost-album-length mini-album – and the requisite compilation appearances, which was mandatory during the ‘80s – and had even recorded a proper debut album, only for that first full-length to be posthumously released in various territories with confusing titles. They would eventually re-form in the mid ‘90s and remain active for nearly two decades, but the demand for the original Not Fragile era has only grown as the years passed.
Feeling duty call, Relics From the Crypt arrive with long-overdue reissues of Not Fragile’s Who Dares Wins mini-album and their intended debut album, One Way to Glory, both remastered: the former adjusted for vinyl by Journey Into Eternity Studios, and the latter a whole new remaster by Patrick Engel at Temple of Disharmony. Originally released in 1988 after being passed around by a couple labels, Who Dares Wins was a rough ‘n’ raucous slice of German speed / power metal emblematic of that era. With surprising heaviness if not thrashiness, the band’s 27-minute mini-album bore contemporaneous influence from the likes of Running Wild and Helloween nearby and Helstar and Liege Lord overseas. Nevertheless, Not Fragile had the songwriting – and energy – to put them over, with the record’s production sounding particularly professional despite its meager budget. The following year, the band would record their ill-fated debut album, One Way to Glory. As presaged by its title, the lyrics shifted slightly toward more fantastical realms – the band did have an amazingly DIY castle backdrop for the mini’s “With All My Might” video, after all – and the thrashiness dialed back, but energy remained abundant here. The band’s execution actually got even sharper as the riffing became a bit brighter and more melodic, and the cleaner production brought a triumphant gleam to Not Fragile whilst sacrificing no heaviness. Taken as a snapshot of the times, One Way to Glory simultaneously sounded out of date and ahead of the times, as power metal was about to have a resurgence across Europe during the mid ‘90s. However, their version of power metal surely bore the medieval stamp of the ‘80s, and was all the better for it. Sad, then, that their debut album would only see posthumous release in 1992 and 1993 as Hard to Be Alive and Lost in a Dream, respectively, alongside a mishmash of other ‘80s tracks.
