Hot Fog’s debut EP, Wyvern and Children First, blasts off with “Dwarf King of the Sovereign,” an epic opener that harks back to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal days (with a tinge of '80s thrash). Over chugging riffs, throbbing rhythms, and heady arrangements that could have only been determined with the roll of a 20-sided die, singer Tim Mitchell segues between a throaty, deep range and high-pitched countertenor wails that reveal a studied appreciation for Judas Priest’s Rob Halford. “To the Helm” backpedals a decade to recall such ‘70s hard rock luminaries as UFO and Thin Lizzy. Similarly, “Blood Wedding” is inadvertently reminiscent of Twisted Sister’s pre-metal beginnings as Silver Star.