06. Tank Filth Hounds of Hades 1982 (Kamaflage)
Speed Metal
Paint-peeling speed and bad attitude riffing.
Overview
As nominees for both the best album name of the year and also the album with the most gharish cover award, Tank emerged as an almost understudy band to their far better known speed merchant brothers Motorhead. Much like Motorhead they were a trio fronted by a bassist/vocalist and were a band that played their metal with a punk rock approach a la Motorhead, in preference to that of the more straightforward metal approach of other metal bands around this time. The band were London based and were formed by Algy Ward bass and vocals, and he was soon joined by the Brabbs brothers Peter on guitar and Mark on drums. Algy Ward had previously cut his teeth in a couple of punk bands before finishing up in one of the biggest punk bands around at this time The Damned, but being a metal nut it was obvious that Algy Ward would only truly be happy in a metal band and thus he formed Tank. At the time of Tank’s debut album the
Filth Hounds of Hades, Tank were just one of the many bands from the NWOBHM that were waiting in the wings after the huge success of bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon to take their opportunity. The debut album had all the promotion it needed as the band ended up supporting none other than Motorhead in 1982 on that band’s ‘Iron Fist Tour’ and it would also be Motorhead’s Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke that would produce Tank’s debut album as well. Overall Tank were decent musicians despite not being upto the level of Lemmy and Co. and based their scruffy hard rock sound around a punk attitude, that dressed itself up as metal. They were also one of those metal bands that just didn’t give a **** and simply went out and played, despite usually being too pissed out of their minds most of the time to do so! Like fellow speed merchants Raven, Tank demonstrated that British speed metal around this time was based around a rough ‘n’ ready attitude as much as it was to the speed of the music. Speed metal as a genre in its own right would end up being somewhat short-lived in the early 1980s as a principal player, as it would soon be superseded by the louder and more aggressive thrash metal that came out of California, but in bands like Tank and Raven the sub-genre would always have a viable outlet for fans. This would be strengthened when a number of North American bands led by Anvil (higher up this years list) would carry on with the baton as well. In 1982 the same year, the band would also release their second album
Power of the Hunter and despite some good stuff was seen as a disappointment compared to the debut.
Verdict
The album opens with “Shellshock” and its unexpected cavemen chants before moving into more serious speed metal territory and it sounds like speed metal the Motorhead hard rock variety, before you realise that this is Algy Ward singing here and not Lemmy! This speed doesn’t let up as it drifts into second track “Struck by Lightning” setting the tone for a large chunk of the album. One of the very best speed tracks on the album is the killer “Turn Your Head Around” with its dynamic riffing and a song that is particularly suited to Algy Ward’s limited vocal range. The title cut the “Filth Hounds of Hades” is a more controlled speed metal track that comes late on in the album and it’s these tracks that set the overall tone of the album. Not all the tracks are just based on speed and attitude, as there are some like “Run Like Hell” that dress up the speed in the guise of a heavy rocker and none of these come any truer than a subject close to the band’s heart “Blood, Guts and Beer”. “Heavy Artillery” is probably the heaviest tracks on the album thanks to its chorus and “Who Needs Love Songs?” probably the most humorous, this humour then continues onto the album’s final track the impressive “(He Fell in Love with A) Stormtrooper”. I’ve saved the best till last here in the epic “That’s What Dreams Are Made Of” a song with one of the best riffs around this time and the song is also punctuated with some pretty impressive ‘bluesy jamming’ showing just how reliant metal still was at times on blues based inspiration. Not only is this track probably the best ever put out by the band, but also one of the very best from the whole of the NWOBHM and the song surprisingly delivers a somewhat cheerful approach to the whole metal genre, with its kind of sing-a-long feel. Brothers Peter and Mark Brabbs are a great double act that compliment the punkish Algy all the way in what was the initial line-up of the band. Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke who produces here had been slammed by critics for his production of Motorhead’s
Iron Fist album (see this year’s review) gets it right here. The
Filth Hounds of Hades would not only end up as being one of the best debut albums of the year ,but also one of the essential NWOBHM releases as well in terms of energy and it's vital for any speed metal fans out there,especially if they like their speed metal with both a rough ‘n’ ready attitude and a touch of humour.
Algy Ward- Bass/Vocals
Peter Brabbs- Guitar
Mark Brabbs- Bass
Production- Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke