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Old 01-04-2014, 02:02 PM   #462 (permalink)
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19. Krokus Metal Rendez-Vous 1980 (Ariola)
Heavy Metal


The geisha girl was just too hot for me.

Album
By the time of their fourth album Krokus were the premier metal act coming out of Switzerland and remained so until the arrival of far more serious bands like Celtic Frost and Coroner etc. Their debut had been a weak and uninspired proggy affair (despite having a quirky and offbeat sound) and by the time of their second album the Kiss inspired To You All there was a marked improvement, but they were quickly down in the dumps again for their next album Painkiller (Judas Priest would release an album of the same name years later) So by 1980 Krokus had shown us, that they were a prime exponent of jumping on the bandwagon when it came to playing what was en-vogue and on their fourth album Metal Rendez-vous they proved that they could do it better than ever before. Metal Rendez-vous is an obvious rendition to AC/DC but in a much lighter and more polished metal manner, there is also a nod to Led Zeppelin on the album and to their fellow German speakers the Scorpions. They had now also recruited a far more potent vocalist in the Maltese Marc Storace, who modelled himself on both Bon Scott and Robert Plant as a vocalist, and at times on the album sounded like Steve Perry, making Marc Storace a very competent and talented vocalist indeed. So with all this in mind how does Metal Rendez-vous as an album fare, considering that all the stops have been pulled out to release a contemporary metal album that would mirror other established artists? Well obviously it’s good otherwise it wouldn’t be on this year’s list, but it’s also a prime example of what could be referred to as cliched metal, in that the majority of the material is consistently strong with no obvious weaknesses and still hits all the requirements of what a metal album should sound like circa 1980 with guitar solos, powerful vocals and a metal swagger. The album’s best tracks are the single “Heatstrokes” which swaggers like vintage Led Zeppelin and Marc Storace sounds akin to Bon Scott here and then there is strong commercial material “Bedside Radio” and “Come On” before culminating in the Led Zeppelin inspired power-ballad “Streamer”. Three of the best tracks though are the super commercial “Tokyo Nights” which has Marc Storace now sounding like Steve Perry and the song is probably the nearest the band ever got to their more illustrious German speakers the Scorpions. Then there is the superb “Fire” and the nifty AC/DC meets Led Zeppelin inspired rocker “Back Seat Rock & Roll”. Metal Rendez-vous was a commercial success for the band and opened up the more lucarative markets of both the UK and the US to them, with their fun sounding clichéd metal.

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Last edited by Unknown Soldier; 06-08-2015 at 06:32 AM.
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