17. 220 Volt Power Games 1984 (CBS)
Heavy Metal
A firefall of power chord metal from the north.
The Lowdown
Power Games was the second album by Swedish metal band 220 Volt and it was a distinct improvement over their shaky sounding eponymous debut that came out the previous year. Around the mid-1980s Swedish metal along with German metal, would be right at the forefront of the European heavy metal scene in terms of the amount of bands from the non-English speaking European countries. Both these countries would largely be responsible for putting out a large amount of melodic metal albums of quality around this time, that really helped to establish each country’s respective metal scene. Swedish metal with its future death metal scene, would go onto become a pillar of that particular sub-genre, but before that bands like 220 Volt who were probably one of the very best melodic metal bands from that part of the world, put out the impressive
Power Games album and for that reason makes this list. Swedish metal also had a somewhat distinctive sound as well, as characterized by one of its best known metal bands at that time in Europe. Europe of course would go onto stellar heights in just a few years with their
Final Countdown album (love it or hate it) But two years before that, 220 Volt were putting out a sound very similar to that of Europe, but in a far less polished style which had a rough around the edges feel to it and I even saw one review which likened the band to American metal band Riot (who have quite a few reviews on these pages) On
Power Games the band are particularly at their best on tracks like “Firefall” and “Airborne Fighter” which are both full of rocking power chords and both sound so euro-metal in their execution, but their gruffer edge kind of sets them apart from some of their fellow Swedish bands making the album a cut above some of their rivals. Some of the tracks on the album are also done in a bleaker sounding way, as can be heard on “Night Without End” and the grinding “Child or Beast” two tracks that most reviewers like on the album. In fact there is only one real exception to the previous two styles of the band and that comes on the most polished and accessible track on the album in “Over the Top” which even has a classic disco vibe to it a la “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” by Kiss, it doesn’t particularly sound like the Kiss song but it does have some of its essence. 220 Volt across
Power Games display the typical Swedish way of playing metal at this time and that was with heavy driven riffs, but always with a strong emphasis on melody and hooks. Now in regards to this 220 Volt don’t disappoint but what they do have in their locker, is the already mentioned gruffer approach to their material which is noticeable on the album and most of the songs on the album also happen to be about wars and apocalyptic outcomes, showing that this type of material just wasn’t in the domain of thrash metal. Guitarists Mats Karlsson and Thomas Drevin take the K.K Downing and Glen Tipton of Judas Priest approach to playing and Jocke Lundholm sounds like a Swedish vocalist should. At the end of the day, albums by bands like 220 Volt, Europe and a lot of the other Swedish metal scene bands at this time, are really only going to appeal to listeners that appreciate ‘euro-metal’ which mostly means melodic metal with a European touch and not exactly a world away from European power metal. If you don’t really dig this metal style, then 220 Volt is probably not going to shock your senses.
Jocke Lundholm- Vocals
Mats Karlsson- Guitar
Thomas Drevin- Guitar
Mike Larsson- Bass
Peter Hermansson- Drums
Production- Thomas Witt