Ebony Records · EBON 14 · 1983
Metal Plated, 1983
Badger appear on the 1983 compilation album Metal Plated, contributing “The Traveller” as the second track on side A, credited as Badger, Rossendale.
The album was assembled by Ebony Records, a small Hull independent, as a showcase for unsigned bands. Ebony worked the same way Metal Blade did in the US — compilations of unsigned acts, some of whom went on to full album deals with the label. It arrived at the point when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was drawing attention to exactly this kind of self-financed regional release.
Eight bands made the record: four from the UK, three from France and one from Sweden — which is how a band from Rossendale ended up being reviewed in a French music paper that compared every act on the album to a different grade of wine.
“The Traveller” and “Demon Rider” were both tracked over a single Saturday in the label owner’s home studio, from a demo recorded at Cargo Studio in Rochdale in late 1982.
Full tracklist
| A1 | Demon Eyes — Les Deux Maudites | France |
| A2 | Badger — The Traveller | UK |
| A3 | Coma — All In The Name Of Rock And Roll | UK |
| A4 | Blasphème — Jehova | France |
| B1 | Vulcain — Vulcain | France |
| B2 | Double Agent — Madman | UK |
| B3 | Steel Wings — Live Your Life | Sweden |
| B4 | Stallion — Don’t Wait Too Long | UK |
Got a copy?
We’re trying to build a proper record of the release — sleeve scans, pressing variations, the reviews, anything. If you own a copy of Metal Plated, or you’ve got the French or Italian reviews, we’d like to hear from you.
Note for collectors: there are three other bands called Badger from this era — one from Deesdale in Wales (also the Badger Bell Band), one from Tamworth, and a London band from 1972. This is the Rossendale one.