Members' Top Ten Lists
And so we come to Plankton's top three, and of course, where would any list be without Slayer? At number
3
South of Heaven --- Slayer --- 1988
Reviewed in full only yesterday as part of our Featured Artiste slot
Which takes us to his last two choices, and at number
2
Holy Diver --- Dio --- 1983
Another genre-defining album, the debut and at the same time pinnacle of Dio’s career, this album has also been reviewed in the section “The Metal that made Me” last year. Eternal classic, never tire of hearing it.
And at the top of his list, who else would he have but a world-renowned guitarist? At number
1
Built to destroy --- Michael Schenker Group --- 1983
Let's be honest: this starts off wimprock; there's a bouncy keyboard line and a rising synth that puts this right in AOR territory for me, even verging into pop, which belies the title “Rock my nights away”. The production also seems pretty bad, unless it's just me. For some reason Spotify doesn't have it and I had to go Groovesharkin'. But I haven't had any trouble with other albums from them in terms of production or sound, so I have to assume it's the album itself. There's the signature Schenker guitar solos, but I can't believe how soft-rock this is, at least the opener. Hope it gets heavier as it goes on. Oddly enough, I can't even blame the weak vocals on by-then departed songer Graham Bonnet, as this is Gary Barden back behind the mike, the man who so impressed me on their debut, which was featured at the beginning of the week.
Man, I still hear a lot of funk as the second track gets going, and this is not the MSG I --- sort of --- knew. This was, in fairness, their last album before splitting, but if it doesn't improve then it sounds like it was the right decision. Couldn't call this anything approaching metal. It's so weak and limpwristed. Nah, it just gets worse. This is, frankly, awful, and about as far removed from metal as it can be without being an all-out pop record. At least “Captain Nemo” gets things rocking, finally, but it looks to be an instrumental. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but when Schenker is let loose with his Flying V he can metal up any song.
But then we're back to funk/disco and I'm done with this. Sorry man it's just an insult to metal. How you picked this is beyond me. Embarrassing. Okay they managed to rescue it with the last track but it's way too little way too late, like offering a rope to a guy AFTER he's been submerged for half an hour.
Michael, you're sleeping with the fishes, mein freund. Sleeping being the operative word.
Sadly, the only thing this album is built to destroy are my expectations. And it did.
