10. Warrant The Enforcer 1985 (Modern Music)
Speed Metal
Deep inside their souls, I found their dirty jokes.
The Lowdown
1985 was a particularly good year for speed metal especially considering that it had been superseded by thrash metal, so here are the first of two strong speed metal albums to break into the top 10 on this year’s list. Also this Warrant has nothing to do with the American hair metal band of the same name, that would become popular further on down the road. This Warrant were formed in Dusseldorf as recently as 1983 but would end up as being a short project with just one full album and an EP to their name until 2014, when they did what most old bands do and release a kind of reunion album. Their debut EP
First Strike came out in 1985 and was soon followed by their debut album
The Enforcer and its album cover is just so sweet and just what the doctor ordered when it comes to metal trying to make a statement. The album has a heavy production to it and some really heavy crunchy guitars and both these factors stand as two of its towering points, but the other highlight is surely vocalist Jorg Juraschek who could’ve easily fronted a thrash band, as he genuinely sounds pissed off here and certainly pre-empts Mille Petroza of Kreator, even though tone wise he seems to have more in common with Rob Halford than Mille Petroza. Musically and as expected the album is dominated by the dynamic guitars of both Thomas Klein and Oliver May who with their old school riffing, mirror quite a few better known tandem guitar teams in the metal world. The album starts with a solid acoustic intro before getting down to business with the heavy speed of “The Rack” and despite being a good song, it gets somewhat let down with the ‘hey’ cheer from the other band members. Next up is “Ordeal of Death” which kicks back a bit on the speed but still goes for the jugular with its heavy propulsive riffs and it’s songs like this that rate really highly with me, in fact these propulsive riffs run through much of the material on the album with superb consistency. The band were clearly having fun as well with song titles like “Nuns Have No Fun” along with other tracks like “Bang That Head” “Torture in the Tower” and “Send Ya’ to Hell” with the latter here almost having a Scorpions musical type opening and it’s clear that this band knew how to enjoy themselves in the studio with this type of material. The reason why this album tends to be high in a weak year, is quite simply because this album is extremely consistent in what it has to offer and by the mid-way point of the album with its title track the dynamic “The Enforcer” and the following “Betrayer” this seems more evident than ever.The album also ends on a metal high with its closer “Cowards or Martyrs” making this the only full length album by the band until a renunion 2014 release. The short-lived Warrant almost warn us about fellow German bands like Helloween whose own cheeseball style had something in common with Warrant, making this a good starting point for mid 1980s German metal even though I’ve already featured quite a few German bands. The German speed metal phenomenan was short-lived and was soon supplanted by its power metal movement, but
The Enforcer by Warrant was another one of its finest examples and musically sits somewhere between what Accept and Kreator were doing.
Jorg Juraschek- Bass/Vocals
Thomas Klein- Guitar
Oliver May- Guitar
Lothar Weiners- Drums
Production- Warrant