Unknown Soldier

The Lowdown
One of the purest metal sounding releases of the year from a band that hardly get any credit. West Germany as it was back then, had over the years produced the best non-British or American heavy acts around. The wave had initially started with the proto-metal classics put out by bands like Lucifer’s Friend and Night Sun (see reviews and to find them use The Batlord’s awesome index) this of course continued with the Scorpions who basically cornered the German metal market for the rest of the decade and set the tone not just for German metal bands, but for a lot of metal bands in general. The 1980s saw a huge explosion of Teutonic metal and I’m talking here before its thrash metal and power metal days, which were still a few more years down the line. Of these bands Accept were the biggest, but a huge host of bands like Gravestone, Avenger, Sinner and Viva (their 1981 album What the Hell is Going On! just missed my list for that year) along with a load of metal bands I’ve never heard anything by, were putting out albums that all have their admirers. From the ones that I have listened to Trance with their second album Power Infusion really stood out for its quality and energy, and was originally chasing a slot at most in position 20 on this year’s list, but with a recent listen this album has now edged itself further up the list as it just got better on each listen. Power Infusion is quite simply a pure metalhead’s album nothing more or nothing less and never was an album cover more accurate especially with its metal infusion into the arm, of what the material underneath would be like, which would be a headbanger’s delight. Their debut album Break Out in 1982 had been a decent blood and guts effort, but by the time of their sophomore Power Infusion the band had really tightened up and turned the screw on what they were dishing out, which was a pure metal thoroughbred for metal aficionados. The most striking aspect of the album is its pure intensity that hardly lets up and boy when these Germans knew how to play metal, they really knew how to play it and they took no prisoners either! Much of the album is galloping metal that likes to stall in places, but always has a punchy style and this is the kind of metal that I really dig and get excited with. Tracks like “Heavy Metal Queen” “SLD” and “Sensation” all fall somewhere into this category. The other top tracks on the album are “Children of Illusion” the lightest effort on the album and has vocalist Lothar Antoni entering Klaus Meine territory, it’s also a track that wouldn’t be out of place on an Iron Maiden album either. Then there is the frenetic “Glasshouse” with its pulsating rhythm section and an absolute killer. The majestic sounding arrangements of “Shock Power” have the song rolling along almost on cruise control as the band sound just so at ease with what they’re doing here. “Burn Your Lies” harks to Rob Halford vocally and has some strong sections before embracing too much commercialism (see below) and album closer “Storm & Thunder” is some pretty juicy speed metal. The only tracks that I don’t particularly like are “Rockstar” and parts of “Burn Your Lies” despite the fact that the latter track has some strong moments (see above) overall these tracks have that central/northern European manufactured sound, that would soon become popular with artists like Nena and Europe in the mid-1980s. Lothar Antoni’s gruff shrill with that German tinge is an absolute winner on nearly every track here, as is the varied guitar tones laid down Markus Berger and most plaudits point to the strength of the band’s steady rhythm section of both Thomas Klein and Jurgen Baum. A favourite review site of mine, states this album as a perfect example of what a lost metal album really is (which of course is a quality gem with all the right ingredients now totally forgotten, just like it never existed) and it’s a statement that I totally agree with concerning Power Infusion, as I doubt too many people out there will be aware of this album. I’m not necessarily calling this album a metal classic, but like Savatage before it this is an album that demands the attention of any serious metal listener and deserves a few listens and it sits as a great example of early 1980s Teutonic metal. On a final note the band were forced to change their name for legal reasons to Trancemission in 1989 before going back to Trance in 1998. Neither name is particularly metal sounding, but never was a name so misleading, as you won’t find too much out there more metal sounding than this album.

Lothar Antoni- Vocals
Markus Berger- Guitar
Thomas Klein- Bass
Jurgen Baum- Drums

Production- N/A

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