Unknown Soldier

The Lowdown
For some reason this album was a borderline case on whether it would make the top 20 or not, needless to say it did, but I think it did this though through some oversight on my part because it seems to have ended up getting a lofty slot in this year’s top 20. Heavy Pettin’ were very much a product of the NWOBHM despite some strong American influences and their debut album Lettin Loose is well regarded in some quarters. The band were fronted by vocalist Steve Hayman who looked like a combination of Rod Stewart meets Joe Elliot, kind of making him rock magazine ‘pin-up material’ for teenagers and the band hailed from Glasgow. In fact they may well be the only Scottish band I’ve featured so far on here along with Nazareth, who were of course regulars in the 1970s section of the journal. Heavy Pettin’ were a band desperate for commercial success, but sadly for them that ‘radio hit’ never actually came despite having the marbles to be able to do one. Their accessible hard rock sound probably came several years too late for most metal fans, who were now more intent on devouring something a lot more abrasive and had they been an Amerian glam metal band, they may have stood a better chance by basing themselves in LA. From the word go on Rock Ain’t Dead, the album production is sharper, tighter and more accomplished than their debut and the album is loaded with 'American glam rocker tracks' that sound like they could’ve have been material for bands such as Twisted Sister, Motley Crue or Ratt, strangely enough none of these could even make this year’s list, which shows that despite the huge popularity of glam metal, that a large chucnk of its biggest bands had hit a creative wall, which makes these Heavy Pettin’ tracks better listens if you're into this kind of sound. These tracks include the booming title track "Rock Ain't Dead" "Lost in Love" "Northwinds" "Angel" and "Throw a Party" Most of these songs tend to rely on that anthem approach and some of these sound like they’ve been underpinned with Ted Nugent type guitar riffs, which of course gives them some backbone and there’s even a power-ballad chucked in there as well with the soppy “Dream Time” which could've been that radio hit. The band dabble with purer AOR style tracks such as "Sole Survivor" and pass with colours on this score as well. Musically I’ve read a few reviews for this album that have mentioned the band’s reliance on a Def Leppard type approach, which of course is mostly down to the band ripping the track "Pyromania" under the guise of "China Boy" and the known "Throw a Party" sounds a bit like Def as well, but for me I always felt that there was more of a Saxon influence in the proceedings here and most definitely a heavy nod to American artists from both the 70s and present day. Steve Hayman’s vocals admittedly sounds like he’s been inhaling from a helium balloon prior to picking up the mike and he was often compared to Brian Vollmer of Canadian band Helix which is no bad thing in my mind, but to me he sounds something like Biff Byford of the aforementioned Saxon on helium of course. The album for a lot of listeners though may well sound over-produced but that though keeps in line with what the band were trying to do, which was to put out a polished sound. Despite all this, the band were very able when it came to putting out quality produced melodic hard rock, that had certainly been inspired by AOR giants like Foreigner and especially Journey, making this a solid listen and certainly their best album despite its crappy album cover, in fact I've seen it in a couple of 'worst ever album cover' lists out there.

Steve Hayman- Vocals
Gordon Bonnar- Guitar
Punky Mendoza- Guitar
Brian Waugh- Bass
Gary Moat- Drums

Production- ?

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