Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog

Giles Lavery is best known as the vocalist of Warlord, Alcatrazz and Jack Starr. On top of that, he is also a highly prolific band manager, record producer and label co-owner.

DRAGONSCLAW is the name one of the first bands Giles Lavery co-formed with Ben Thomas in 2010, while still residing in Sydney, Australia. Their debut album Prophecy was quickly recorded in 2011, followed by Judgement Day (2013). And now, a record breaking twelve years later, it’s time for the follow-up.

Apart from Giles Lavery on vocals, Moving Target features Australian citizens Ben Thomas (guitars) and Aaron Thomas (bass) as well Warlord members Mark Zonder (drums) and Jimmy Waldo (keyboards).

“For me the direction on Moving Target was intended to be if Judas Priest had made an album somewhere in 1985 between Defenders Of The Faith and Turbo,” describes the vocalist on the sound of the new DRAGONSCLAW album, “with some of the second Fifth Angel album in there too.”

Keyboards are prominently featured on Moving Target, which was actually the original plan of the band: “I think for this album the keyboards are very important, they create the needed atmosphere and drama. I would say that we used them in a similar way that Virgin Steele did on Age Of Consent, namely to build atmosphere. I really like that haunting effect keyboards can have when used right. Like Tony Banks from Genesis does, or Tony Carey on his Planet P Project albums. Jimmy Waldo is one of those guys too.”

Probably the fastest and most upbeat number on Moving Target is called “Shadowfire”. And it comes with a surprise: “’Shadowfire’ reminded me of a current-day Riot song, so I asked Todd Michael Hall to sing on it with me and he was kind enough to do so!”

TRACKLISTING:
01 The Road Beneath Your Wheels
02 Survival
03 Cry Wolf
04 Don’t Break the Silence again
05 Back on the Streets
06 Ghost Soldiers
07 Shadowfire
08 (Tell me) All Your Lies
09 Raise Your Fist

LINE-UP:
Giles Lavery – Vocals
Ben Thomas – Guitar
Aaron Thomas – Bass
Jimmy Waldo – Keys
Mark Zonder – Drums

Produced by Giles Lavery & Ben Thomas with Thomas Mergler
Mixed and Mastered by Thomas Mergler at Tom’s Soundranch
Artwork: All Things Rotten

ON-LINE:
https://www.hrrecords.de
https://www.facebook.com/hrrecords
https://www.facebook.com/DragonsclawOfficial

Source: High Roller Records

This entry was posted on July 1, 2025 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Heavy Metal, heavy metal bands, Metal, metal bands, metal music, Music, music news, news with tags dragonsclaw, Metal, metal albums 2025, metal music, Metal News, metal odyssey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.