Well it's certainly one of the catchiest metal albums I've ever heard.

Overview
Heaven and Hell had been a romping return to form by the mighty Black Sabbath and without doubt their best studio album since 1975’s Sabotage and it had also been one of their biggest selling albums ever. Heaven and Hell was a landmark album and certainly one of the most important for the 1980s, as its power and boldness would shape much of the metal scene for the rest of the decade, especially when it came to promoting bombastic metal vocals. The band had undergone a major stylistic change by bringing in the dungeons and dungeons lyrics of Dio and the band’s basic guitar led tracks now had Dio singing right across Tony Iommi’s riffs to masterful effect. Heaven and Hell though hadn’t been all roses as far as the band were concerned, given the well known issues concerning both Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. These issues would now see the band going through a pivotal change, as by the time of Mob Rules the band were without original drummer Bill Ward in the set-up and his replacement from the previous tour Vinnie Appice continued to great effect on the Mob Rules album. Also the album saw Geezer Butler on bass looking interested again, after he’d gone for a walkabout on the Heaven and Hell recordings, before controversially coming back on board. Again keyboardist Geoff Nicholls is treated as an additional member of the band, but does get a good solo stint on the synthesizer instrumental “E5150”. All the tracks on the album are group compositions (minus Vinnie Appice) with Dio scoring all the the track lyrics. In terms of commercial sales Mob Rules went gold in the US and silver in the UK which all kept the band firmly in the commercial spotlight. The album contained three singles in "The Mob Rules" "Turn up the Night" and "Voodoo" and all three scored on both sides of the Atlantic. The album would also be the last Black Sabbath album recorded by Martin Birch, who after this recording would put himself in the hands of Iron Maiden as their in-house producer, as he had already recorded the Killers album for Iron Maiden and largely carried this energy across to Mob Rules. The album’s impressive artwork was based on a modified version of fantasy artist Greg Hildebrandt’s work and it’s an album cover that’s interesting to say the least. For any completists out there, the same line-up here also features on the the band’s 1982 live release, the whopping 83 minutes of the double Live Evil which was recorded on the ‘Mob Rules’ tour.

Verdict
Most reviews often state Mob Rules as a slightly inferior version of Heaven and Hell, which it more or less mirrors to a tee and generally treat the album overall as the lesser metal essential. Personally I’d say that was a load of bollocks, sure Heaven and Hell might’ve been the more landmark record, but on Mob Rules the band were literally on fire and recorded one of the greatest albums to grace metaldom at the start of the 1980s! I guess a similar analogy could be made with Motorhead’s Overkill and Bomber albums, as Bomber does it for me from those two albums. Mob Rules certainly has similarities with Heaven and Hell in terms of track selection, as on the previous album they opened up with the fast-paced “Neon Knights” and they match that here with “Turn up the Night” with its cooking riff. But it’s on the second track “Voodoo” that the listener gets a hints that things are going to be a little different on Mob Rules, as the song displays the heaviness and bombastic approach of most of the album. This approach is largely thanks to producer Martin Birch who pumps up the power and the track is one of the muscle highlights of the album. This though is a kind of prelude to the seven-minute epic “Sign of the Southern Cross” whose acoustic opening belies the power that would follow on the rest of the song and it’s without doubt the T-bone steak of the album! Other heavy tracks include the raw title track “The Mob Rules” the rockier ‘Iron Man’ sounding “Country Girl” and these are both glorious tracks. Another gem hidden away on the b-side is “Falling off the Edge of the World” which has Dio initially sounding like Freddie Mercury with that slowish Queen type intro, before the track goes through a serious pace change and we’re met with another heavy mogadon monster. This is then perfectly followed by the album closer “Over and Over” which serves as the curtain call for the album with some pretty epic playing by Tony Iommi! The lesser album track is “Slipping Away” which does feel like quality filler with its fleshed out guitar and bass work, but it’s still far from bad. Then there is the album oddity the sub-three minute synthesizer instrumental “E5150” which harks back to the more experimental mid-period Sabbath albums of the 1970s and certainly seems out of place here, even though it’s a great atmospheric track and the mood created here would be the kind of thing that Eddie Van Halen would put out on Van Halen’s more moody synthesized outings. Overall what’s great about the Dio era in Sabbath, is the simple fact that the somewhat iconic reign of Ozzy Osbourne had produced a legendary metal band, thanks to his signature vocal style and image. Therefore the transition by the band to accommodate a dominant powerhouse vocalist like Dio had been a bold move and possibly one of the riskiest in rock history as world famous bands didn’t usually just change their whole musical perspective. The move would cement Dio as one of the greatest, if not the greatest vocalist in the history of metal (for those that love dominant vocalists of course) and both he and Ozzy would cement the Sabbath brand forever. Mob Rules is an epic album and for anybody looking to take just 10 metal albums on a desert island quest, then surely consider Mob Rules as one of those albums!

Dio- Vocals
Tony Iommi- Guitar
Geezer Butler- Bass
Vinnie Appice- Drums
Geoff Nicholls- Keyboards

Production- Martin Birch

Sounds painful.

"Mob Rules" and "Falling OTEOTW" regularly land somewhere on my playlists. Good write-up on it, and I've loved that album since it's inception.

If you're a fire performer or the Human Torch it's not.

It sure is an album built to last.

Verdict
I really didn’t want to do this again and that was to include another album by an artist that I had already picked on the year before. But in 1981 I couldn’t find anything more worthy for my ‘Down on the Slab’ section than Ozzy Osborune’s Diary of a Madman which again falls under category one above. I’d criticized Ozzy’s debut as being something of an artistic mess (see 1980 review) where Ozzy’s farsical singing style had been at complete loggerheads to the serious neo-classical playing of Randy Rhoads. This odd marriage though had created a highly successful team as Ozzy’s debut album had been a big commercial success and had gone down well with both fans and critics alike as a fairly groundbreaking effort. Diary of a Madman would equal that commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic and despite being regarded as having slightly inferior material was still seen as a crucial metal release back in 1981. Anyway as for the album, I actually dig Diary a lot more than Blizzard largely because Randy’s neo-classic playing has given over to an even more progressive style. This actually now creates a biting style with a moody and eerie feel to proceedings, and even more importantly Ozzy’s vocals seem far more in line with his playing too. I also think that the material by and large works better than on the debut, as both Ozzy and Randy seem to be moving more in the same direction here and there seems a greater unison. The stronger material on the album includes the pretty awesome album opener “Over the Mountain” which has Randy’s riffs melding as already said with Ozzy’s singing and they really should’ve written more tracks with this kind of bite in them! One of the album’s single’s "Flying High Again" is pretty decent, but probably nowhere near as good as it’s often made out to be. The best track though is “Believer” which is pretty stellar from Randy’s playing perspective and it’s one of the few times when Ozzy and Randy blended perfectly. Overall Diary of a Madman has a more mature and greater cohesive feel than the Blizzard of Ozz, but its big problem is that it’s let down by a number of mediocre tracks that pop up in its middle and latter sections, and these tracks really expose the belly of the album. These include “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll” which drags to almost 7 monotonous minutes. The heavyish “Little Dolls” which unsuccessfully tries to give us a prime example of pop metal (the booming commercial thing back then) but the worst cut is surely the pretty dreadful ballad “Tonight” and this is a ballad which is not only bland, but it also plods two factors which usually make a ballad a painful listen, and even the power guitar playing at its end can’t really save its bacon either, luckily for the listener though the lively S.A.T.O comes right after it to pick the album up again. The title track "Diary of Madman" is very much Ozzy Osbourne in every aspect and I guess you either dig the track or not…… I didn’t. Overall and deep down I don’t find Diary of a Madman to be the misfit of an album that Blizzard of Ozz was and overall it’s an album that’s almost there in what it tries to do and that is to try and create a more classic and contemporary metal album for its time, which imo it doesn’t quite do but that’s not to say that it’s a poor album either. After the release of Diary of a Madman, the following year would see guitarist Randy Rhoads sadly die a premature death in a plane crash and this would end Ozzy’s vital relationship that he had built up his initial solo career on, a musical relationship which he would never quite manage again as a solo artist. That same year a new American line-up would record a live double album Speak of the Devil in 1982 that consisted wholly of Black Sabbath covers. After this and with a few more tweaks with the line-up, the band would go onto record Ozzy’s third studio album Bark at the Moon and by the time of Bark at the Moon, Ozzy if it was possible had sunk into the ultimate caricature of himself!

1982

1982 is the year probably best remembered as the metal avalanche that was known as Iron Maiden now with Bruce Dickinson on board and for Judas Priest releasing one of their most iconic albums. Before 1982 Iron Maiden had been one of the biggest metal acts around, but now with Bruce Dickinson in the line-up they would now take the next step upto superstar status, a level reserved largely just for the likes of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to name just a couple. Def Leppard would also be the other NWOBHM band to achieve this level of status, but would have to wait till the following year to do so with Pyromania. Arena style metal was still the dominant metal stance for a lot of metal bands and others aspired to this type of posturing as well, as that was by and large metal's principal commercial outlet. Of the established acts who had put out strong albums in 1981 the year was largely an extension of what they’d done the previous year, but as already said 1982 luckily saw a return to form for some of metal’s principal bands like Judas Priest, who had mis-fired on Point of Entry but came back full blast on Screaming for Vengeance. Kiss finally came in from the cold after their less than successful tampering with pop on several disappointing albums. But most interestingly, the year saw a couple of bright albums from newish bands that would help make the ‘glam metal’ genre explode commercially in the USA the very following year, as these bands were now adding fuel to the fire already started by Motley Crue. The faster end of the metal spectrum was kept alive by speed metal acts like Anvil and Tank, but largely these bands were just keeping the speed seat warm for the even meaner thrash movement that would burst onto the metal scene very shortly. Also in just a few short years, the NWOBHM had firmly established itself as a label for the vast majority of British metal bands and most of these bands were very much the established new guard now, despite the fact that a number of new British metal bands were still constantly fighting for that elusive record deal. The year saw things as fast moving as ever and again it caught a number of bands out, as bands like Saxon seemed hesitant in what they were doing and Diamond Head read the script wrong yet again, despite the fact they were most talented metal band around! The early 1980s also proved that you didn’t have to release an album every year to maintain your status as a major metal act, as bands like Def Leppard and the now veteran Scorpions (who did release an album in 1982) showed that constant touring especially in the USA, was just as good as releasing a platinum album for maximum exposure. One thing was for certain anyway and that was that the immediate future of metal was centred around the USA regardless the origin of the band, as the next two metal revolutions in the next few years would largely be on American soil.

Album
1982 was such a great year with so many albums vying for a top 20 slot and some of the choices that I made here, ended up being in favour of albums and bands that made an everlasting impact on metal, rather than albums that were musically better. The Manowar debut was one such album that fell into this first category and beat albums by bands such as the sophomore of Raven, the only album ever put out by NWOBHM band Shiva, Spanish metal in Baron Rojo and a nearly there album by Whitesnake were just some of the albums beaten by the Manowar debut here. The name Manowar usually evokes strong opinions amongst metalheads and these opinions often denote Manowar as being the complete anthithesis of everything they see great about metal from a negative viewpoint, but this is equally countered by others (such as me) who see the band as being the epitome of everything metal. I consider myself a big Manowar fan, not so much in their actual music, but more in them being a genuine celebration of metal and all its established clichés. Manowar would go on to be so influential on 1980s metal, that they can probably be seen as the principal motivators of the soon to be ‘power metal’ genre (easily one of my favourite sub-metal genres) making them pretty groundbreaking in what they were doing. The band were formed in New York 1980 by bassist and band leader Joey DeMaio, who soon recruited highly reputable guitarist Ross the Boss ex-Dictators and ex-Shakin Street a French metal band who once appeared earlier in this journal (see 1978 review) drummer Donnie Hamzik and finally vocalist Eric Adams, an ex-butcher who claimed to have a five-and-a-half octave vocal range! The criteria of this new band was quite simple and that was to be the loudest metal band in the world and also the truest, and in my opinion that’s exactly what they would achieve over their next several albums. Manowar were never a band to be taken too seriously and their debut album Battle Hymns which features here, is certainly encumbered by a number of badly used metal clichés and less than impressive song writing ability on certain songs, but the pure and potential epicness of the band is there from the word go, and this talent covers over these cracks making Battle Hymns an interesting ‘power metal starter album’. The album starts with “Death Tone” with its Kiss influenced “Detroit Rock City” opener and in general the song has that Kiss aroma throughout, but Manowar play louder than Kiss ever did though. By the time of the excellent second track ‘the celebration of metal anthem’ “Metal Daze” you really know what this band are all about and that is quite simply epic metal that’s here to stay! The band then truly blend speed metal into their powerful repertoire on “Fast Taker” the best track on the album, before the album then dips into clichéd and patchy song choices, but there’s still enough here to keep you engaged. The band though get things right on the album closer, the epic title track “Battle Hymn” all hail glorious metal!

Manowar sucks.

Are you drunk?

I'd have to be drunk to listen to Manowar.

We all know you're there number one fan really.

Album
Hailing from Long Island as did the Blue Oyster Cult, Twisted Sister would end up being a world away from their more sophisticated and cryptic neighbours, largely thanks to the band’s own basic ‘knuckle sandwich’ approach to metal. Twisted Sister largely thanks to the frontman presence of Dee Snider, would go onto become one of the prime movers for the soon-to-be sensation of the glam metal genre and Twisted Sister along with the likes of both Motley Crue and Quiet Riot would lay the tarmac of that movement down. The band were very much early stylistic pace-setters, in that their brand of ‘glam metal’ differed greatly from the more typical hedonistic androgynous approach of a number of the bands that would form the glam rock movement, for example they didn’t follow the lines of giant acts like Aerosmith, Van Halen or Kiss either. Instead Twisted Sister went in for a far more gharish approach, which was achieved through the use of grotesquely applied make-up in order to get their musical message across. Overall this musical message was in contradiction of their physical image, as Twisted Sister as a band largely went in for what could be termed as ‘real man metal’ as opposed to the sleazy sounding glam of many of their counterparts. Their music would also be tinged with pop anthems, but their potent metal approach made the band one of the hardest hitting from the ‘revived glam era’ of the 1980s. The band had been formed as far back as 1972 and through numerous name changes and various comings and goings of its members, they had finally honed their sound and style down after slugging it out for like a zillion shows. They had also been strongly influenced by British glamsters such as David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Sweet and Slade to name just a few and of course there was that logical New York Dolls influence on the band as well. Having honed their style down to something of a solid freak act they finally made their breakthrough, as did a lot of American bands around this time (late 70s and early 80s) in the UK where they went down a storm thanks to the UK’s recent NWOBHM revolution. Around this time they appeared on the UK music show The Tube to stunning effect, where the presenter presented them as the ‘band that looked like women but played like men’. They soon hooked up with UFO bassist Pete Way another party animal and nutcase to produce their long-awaited debut album Under the Blade. The album was largely a solid if repetitive release, but the in-yer-face songs were there and hit where it mattered. The hard-hitting winners on the album included the addictive album opener “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can’t Hurt You)” which introduced us to Dee Snider’s addictive but sinister vocals and the double guitar team of Eddie Ojeda and Jay Jay French. The Judas Priest inspired “Sin After Sin” which has Dee Snider reaching out for Rob Halford and then there is one of the album’s best in “Shoot ‘Em Down” which sounds like AC/DC in a party mood. Finally there is the album closer the bluesy “Day of the Rocker” which has Dee Snider at times sounding like Jim Morrison. The pop anthems are represented by tracks like “Bad Boys (Of Rock and Roll)” which sounds like a cover of a 1970s glam track, but it’s actually a great original and had it been released a year later it could’ve given the band a big hit when glam rock truly landed and the re-issued “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now”. The muscle tracks are “Run for Your Life” with its driving guitar, the heavy second side opener “Destroyer” and the title track “Under the Blade”. Under the Blade demonstrates all the band’s musical influences, by cleverly drafting these influences and integrating them into their own sound. Overall Under the Blade despite being a potent listen, does suffer though from its regurgitated feel from around its halfway point, but then again Twisted Sister weren’t known for their ability as in-depth songwriters.

Album
Despite being regarded by Kerrang! as Samson’s best album, Before the Storm is most noted though as being the first post-Bruce Dickinson album by the band, after his poaching by Iron Maiden from Samson the previous year. After Bruce Dickinson had gone it was thought that Samson would possibly fold, but given the fact that Paul Samson was the band’s leader he opted to go on and drafted in heavyweight blues vocalist Nicky Moore ex-Hackensack and ex-Tiger, as well Peter Jupp coming in on drums for Thunderstick. The first release with the new line-up had been the Losing My Grip EP and around this time the band were also touring the UK with American southern rock band Blackfoot (I once reviewed one of their albums somewhere on here) before they went into the studio to cut Before the Storm. A number of the tracks included on that album, had actually already been cut with Bruce Dickinson whilst he was still a member of the band and were now being re-recorded with Nicky Moore, the Bruce Dickinson versions would finally appear on the Shock Tactics cd re-release as extras in 2001. Now with Nicky Moore in the line-up, it seemed fairly obvious that the band might just retreat into their bluesy shell, given the fact that Paul Samson was a hardened bluesman as well, but the end result didn’t turn out like that at all. The album starts with the pretty beefy sounding “Dangerzone” and it has Nicky Moore sounding like a beefier David Coverdale across the song, and the song is one of those hard rock gems that’s built to last, in this vein there is the previously known track in “Losing My Grip” and the album closer “Young Idea”. A lot of the material on the album is fairly up-tempo including tracks like “Stealing Away” which are often mixed in with plenty of melody like on “I’ll Be Around” and “Life on the Run”, whereas tracks like the “Test of Time” and “Turn Out the Lights” are not only pacey, but also have an aggressive edge as well. The weakest track on the album is probably “Red Skies” which was actually one of the songs partly written with Bruce Dickinson. As for the album overall, the most interesting aspect of this album is its distinctly hard rock feel as opposed to a metal one. In regards to this direction, it’s all credit to the band as well, for keeping their bluesy roots at a minimum here, which thankfully keeps the album contemporary for its time. Also I’m guessing that Eddie Vedder long before his Pearl Jam days, may well have been a fan of Nicky Moore vocals, because they both have that same powerful depth to their voices. Before the Storm probably sits on the same level as Shock Tactics for Samson’s best album, but wheras Shock Tactics veered towards a more straight heavy metal sound, Before the Storm goes in for a more melodic hard rock one and of the two I’d probably sooner listen to Before the Storm despite the fact that Shock Tactics is better song for song. Finally over the course of the decade the band’s credibility and finally their fanbase sadly dwindled, leaving Samson as being no more than largely one of those bands that had missed their big opportunity much earlier on in the decade.

Album
Vandenberg were a Dutch hard rock band named after their guitarist Ad ‘Adje’ van den Berg aka Adrian (following on from the likes of Montrose and Samson etc here) and legend has it that he once failed an audition for Thin Lizzy, which is a surprise given his guitar mastery! Anyway the band’s history mirrors that of so many other bands, in that the band’s various members had cut their chops with local smaller bands before coming together under the guise of Vandenberg (a very Dutch name btw) From the word go their sound would be an accomplished melodic hard rock that was heavily infused with some delicious AOR, and their debut would be distinctly aimed at the US market. The band also made their intentions felt, by touring as support in the US to bigger names like Ozzy Osbourne and a revitalised Kiss (who appear later in this year’s list) and in many ways their album should’ve made a much bigger splash than it actually did, given the band’s touring exposure and chart guaranteed sound. The album was recorded at Jimmy Page’s Sol Studios where the band issued a strong if not overly original collection of commercial twinkers. The album’s opening track “Your Love is in Vain” and the soon-to-be single “Burning Heart” are about as commercial as it gets here and could’ve been made by any number of similar 1980s heavy/AOR outfits. In fact “Burning Heart” would end up by being a big single for the band, where it cracked the US top 40 the following year. But the reason why this album is here, is for songs like “Back on My Feet” “Wait” and “Nothing to Lose” as all three are top drawer AOR/hard rock numbers built to last and being an AOR nut and just listening to them it’s like sex to my ears! Faster tracks like “Ready for You” are well placed to keep the tempo of the album ticking along nicely and parts of the neo-classical influenced “Too Late” sound like the obligatory Rob Halford track in places. The only genuine weak track on the album is the album closer “Out in the Streets” which sounds like a rapid re-run of a couple of album’s earlier tracks. Band vocalist Bert Heerink is a great vocalist, with that crisp yet powerful sound and his style very much pre-dates for example a vocalist like Timo Tolkki of Stratovarius by almost a decade and Adrian Vandenberg is a genuine axe-slinger of real talent and is unsurprisingly the star of the show here. As said earlier the album should’ve made a much bigger splash than it did, because with songs like “Burning Heart” which sounds like the quintessential power-ballad, a number of years before they became a semi-permanent feature of the US charts. The band were fully aware of what to deliver here and in this vein most of the album’s material also falls into the essential commercial addictive category as well. In fact I’ve read a number of reviews about this album and its detractors often state how the band’s influences can be heard from a mile off, but one thing is certain though and that anybody listening to the Vandenberg debut, will hear a whole load of familiar sounding tunes, that better known bands would be putting out in terms of style not too long after this album. In hindsight Vandenbergh seemed like commercial metal pioneers for the early 1980s US market and I guess if the album had come out a couple of years later, they probably would be as well remembered as the far better known Europe.

It just dawned on me that I haven't of yet seen any Rose tattoo as of yet. I know your not a fan of AC/DC style of rock n roll, but this was their banner year. Did they make your cut?

Firstly I was never much of a fan and secondly I'd also forgotten about them. So it's too late now to try and include them in this year's list even if I listened to and liked the album they released in 1982.

Album
Iron Fist would be the last Motorhead album with the famed line-up of Lemmy, Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke and Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor and it’s an album that comes on the back of the highly successful live No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith, which reached the top spot on the UK album chart in 1981. The band were at the height of their popularity that year and also released the interesting St. Valentine’s Day Massacre EP with Girlschool as well. Iron Fist though would be their long awaited studio release to follow-up their most successful studio album to date the Ace of Spades and in essence Iron Fist was a worthy follow up in terms of its songs, but it would be let down by the flatness of their delivery. Iron Fist is a much maligned release quite simply because of the issues with its production and this criticism even comes in retrospect from the band members themselves. The band had previously found a winning combination with Vic Maille on the Ace of Spades, but on Iron Fist Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke had been unhappy with Vic Maille’s production for the album and after producing for Tank, he decided to take over production duties himself (this was more often than not a bad move when band’s did this) Overall the criticism of the production is often aimed at the underproduced and flatter sound on the album compared to their previous relases. As for the album it was business as usual with the title track “Iron Fist” with its scruffy speed metal sound, setting the tone for the album early on and it was also released as the album’s lead single cracking the UK top 30. Despite the album’s negative opinions, it does contain some of the band’s most enduring tracks such as the winning duo of “Go to Hell” with its killer riff and “Loser” where Lemmy at times comes close to sounding like Joe Strummer. Now the rest of the album is made up from what I would call ‘typical Motorhead chunks’ and these tracks include “Heart of Stone” “I’m a Doctor” “Sex & Outrage” “America” “Shut it Down” “Speedfreak” along with the final three tracks and as a collection of songs, they rank weaker than what the band had put out on Overkill, Bomber and the Ace of Spades. But this is not to say that they are bad tracks either and are more than capable of giving the listener their Motorhead fix, but given better production the album easily could’ve matched the band’s past glories here. Despite this opinion which is often shared, Iron Fist though amongst hardcore Motorhead fans ranks as a band favourite, which can often be the case from hardcore fans when they feel an album has been unfairly criticized or in this case it might be a certain love for the album, as it’s the last to contain the classic band line-up. Despite these issues the album was heavily promoted and the band undertook a huge UK, European and US tour and it was on this US tour that guitarist Fast ’Eddie’ Clarke left the band, after he found himself less impressed than normal with the antics of Lemmy. He would soon be replaced by wandering ex-Thin Lizzy bad boy Brian ‘Robbo’ Robertson, who came in just for the tour, but ended up staying on for the band’s next album.

You have deeply wounded me Unknown Soldier, in fact I am now Scccaaarrrrred for liiiiiiiiiffffffffffffffffffe!!!

Decent song but it sounds like a toned down AC/DC pub band.

Album
Despite having a powerful melodic metal sound, Y&T hadn’t made that much of an impact on the US album charts with their best album to date the shattering Earthshaker, which had been relased the previous year (see review) So on the release of 1982’s Black Tiger the band were hoping to crack this particular nut this time around! Despite the huge commercial appeal of the album especially to a viable American audience, the album again yet again failed to enter the US top 100, but did manage to do so in the UK where it reached an inconspicuous no.53 spot on the UK album charts. The lack of chart success was certainly surprising given the band’s big live reputation on both sides of the Atlantic, along with their local reputation at the inspirational Starwood Club in LA. This was a location which was literally on fire around this time with its assortment of up and coming glam metal acts, who were honing their skills there on a weekly basis. Commercial success would eventually come to the band some years later and as is often the case it came after the best studio stuff had been released and it was also certainly nowhere near as grand as the band surely warranted in terms of their ability. The album Black Tiger is yet again dominated by the band’s trademark high volume sound and yet again its frontman David Meniketti that is the star of the show here and by and large the album matches the consistency of the previous Earthshaker overall, despite the fact that it does contain some obvious filler on the latter part of its b-side. The track “Open Fire” is the explosive album opener and it’s a track that would become a mainstay of the band’s live repertoire from now on and would also be covered by Swiss metal band Gotthard. “Don’t Wanna Lose” is another great commercial track right out of the Journey top drawer, a sound the band did as well as their Californian counterparts (just with more volume usually) “Hell or High Water” is a loud-mother of a track that has that anthem feel about it and then there is the gripping “Forever” which showcases the soulful voice of David Meniketti to wonderous effect. This lengthy tirade of quality tracks finally comes to an end with the title track “Black Tiger” and it’s on the strength of these tracks that the album Black Tiger can go toe-to-toe with Earthshaker. But it’s right after the title track that the album seriously nose-dives in terms in quality and luckily it only lasts for a couple of tracks with duffers like “Barroom Boogie” and “My Way or the Highway” and luckily things are salvaged with “Winds of Change” a very good track and nothing to do with the later Scorpion’s release of a similiar same name, which was “Wind of Change” of course. Y&T were always a big volume band and they’re one of my favourite listens from the early 1980’s, where metal went through a phase of being big, bold and brassy. This type of metal would soon really suffer though, due to the eventual onslaught of the extreme metal genres that would become a mainstay of the metal scene from the mid 1980s onwards.

Album
The third straight strong album by the Michael Schenker Group and with Michael Schenker’s trademark Gibson Flying V guitar right on cue yet again. On the band’s previous album MSG, the band had reached what was probably their peak in terms of truly putting out a group effort, after having put out the more Michael Schenker focused debut the year before. The weak link as far as some fans were concerned over the first two albums, had been that of vocalist Gary Barden (personally I really dug his gruff voice and still do) had left the band and was now replaced by the higher profile Graham Bonnet. Graham Bonnet was one of the great vocal acrobats of this period and had been a prime mover on Rainbow’s highly commercial 1979 release Down to Earth (see review) before he fell foul of Ritchie Blackmore’s usual clearout of band members and left the band. Also despite just recording only one studio album with Rainbow, he had seen his stakes as a vocalist go through the roof, largely thanks to songs like “Since You’ve Been Gone” a huge track at the time and one of Rainbow’s best ever remembered commercial tracks, even though I always preferred “I Surrender” sung by Joe Lynn Turner over it. In the meantime though, Graham Bonnet had recorded his third studio album Line-Up in 1981 and this had included ex-MSG drumming master Cozy Powell, as well as producing the hit single “Night Games” which reached the UK top 10. The rest of that album though consisted of a number of medicore tracks which ultimately let it down and after this Graham Bonnet had the opportunity to step into the higher profile MSG. Given the transitory nature of Michael Schenker’s band, Chris Glen on bass did well to be retained, but high profile artists Paul Raymond and Cozy Powell had departed the band, with Ted Mckenna coming in on drums (ex-The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and ex-Rory Gallagher amongst others) The band was also trimmed down to just a quartet with keyboardist Tommy Eyre only down as an additional musician. The band also had their third different producer for the album in Martin Birch (now in-house for Iron Maiden) after both Ron Nevison and Roger Glover had produced on the previous two albums. As for the album, vocally I don’t think there’s actually too much of a difference between the vocals of Gary Barden and Graham Bonnet, as on songs like the title track “Assault Attack” the groovy hard rock of “Rock You to the Ground” the noble “Samurai” and the best song on the album “Desert Song” hell **** yer, Gary Barden could’ve performed on these songs imo just as well as Graham Bonnet did. But I guess the reason why Graham Bonnet was brought in, was to perform on obvious commercial fare like “Dancer” which btw is probably the only track of its type on the album. Overall the fit of Graham Bonnet was quite natural really, as he was used to working with a guitar maestro in Ritchie Blackmore and Michael Schenker who despite his own greatness had certainly been influenced by the neo-classical guitar lines of Ritchie Blackmore. Overall Assault Attack is probably not as strong as the previous two albums, despite the fact that a lot of MSG fans rate it at Michael Schenker’s best with MSG.

Album
When producer Vini Poncia came on board for 1979’s Dynasty album, Kiss underwent a major change in their approach to the type of music that they were putting out. Because for that album they had drafed in some heavy pop and disco elements, which was a move that had alienated much of their hardcore fanbase. Internal strife was also high in the band, which eventually led to the permanent departure of drummer Peter Criss, who would firstly be replaced by Anton Fig before Eric Carr took over on the drum stool. Despite the mixed fortunes of Dynasty (see 1979 review) the band continued in much the same vein for 1980’s Unmasked, which despite having some great cuts like “Naked City” and “What Makes the World Go ‘Round” was still hardly the stuff that was going to appeal to the pure heavy metallers and hard rockers out there. It was also the album that finally saw the firing of Peter Criss from the band and despite quite liking this album, I still didn’t deem it strong enough for the 1980 year listings! But in 1981 the band would hit their all time low with the ill-advised concept album Music from “The Elder” and Bob Ezrin’s timely return on production for the album, hardly evoked another Destroyer style album for the band. Kiss had largely been criticised over their last few albums for not playing hard enough and it was thought that with Eric Carr coming in on drums, that he would push the band back into their more traditional hard rock direction. In fact the band had started out in this vein before scrapping things against Ace Frehley’s wishes, to instead churn out the heavy prog nonsense that would become Music from “The Elder”. So by the time of 1982’s Creatures of the Night, the pressure was really on the band to produce something palatable for the listener, so how did Creatures of the Night impress the Kiss doubters out there? Well there could be no doubt about one thing and that was the heavy drum feel provided by Eric Carr across the whole album (the star turn on the album) starting from the opening and title track “Creatures of the Night” and progressing this inspired feel throughout the rest of the album. This powerful offering on the drums, also refuelled both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons to dish out some great Kiss staples like “Rock and Roll Hell” the stellar “War Machine” and the album’s best known track “I Love it Loud” which must’ve inspired the whole glam rock movement tenfold, along with the power ballad “I Still Love You”. The album is highly notable for its sheer consistency, making it’s easily their best since 1977’s Love Gun. Creatures of the Night is also one of the heaviest in the whole Kiss discography and certainly must’ve come as a shock, after the pop/prog orientated meanderings of their last three studio albums. Creatures of the Night would also be notable as an album for two other reasons as well. Firstly and crucially it saw the departure of Ace Frehley from the band (despite the fact that he didn’t play on the album) as a number of talented sessions musicans ranging from the likes of Steve Farris, Mike Pocaro and Vinnie Vincent etc played on the album instead and it would be one Vinnie Vincent who would end up being Ace Frehley’s permanent replacement as well, despite the fact that there had been a move to bring the high profile Eddie Van Halen into the band (he’d been having problems with David Lee Roth) Secondly it was also the last album of the period, before the band took off their trademark facepaint. This would be a big step for the band and in many ways it was hardly a surprising move, as previous Kiss tours had shown that the band’s look had gone somewhat stale as far as the general public were concerned.

Y U NO POST MORE?!


http://0.tqn.com/d/webtrends/1/S/J/A/-/-/y-u-no.png

No more what?

Posts in general. You've been largely MIA for weeks.

I've been posting here on a weekly basis but not so much in the other parts of the forum. The problem has been I've been glued first to the TV for the World Cup and now with the Tour de France, Should be back to normal soon I guess.;)

I'm already aware of Europeans' bizarre obsession with that awful sport, but I was unaware that you people also cared for bicycling. I bicycle everywhere and I could still give a **** about the Tour de France.

Well it's a damn sight more exciting than those mind-numbing sports you play over there, which are loaded up with useless stats.

Cycling's not really popular here as a sport traditionally not like in Belgium, France, Italy, Holland and Spain, but because the UK has their best crop of riders ever its quite popular here now.

Album
Witchfinder General were formed by Zeeb Parkes-vocals and Phil Cope-guitar/bass before then adding Graham Ditchfield-drums. The band hailed from Stourbridge in the West Midlands as did Diamond Head (the area was a real hotbed for the NWOBHM) but unlike Diamond Head who had focused on the musical dynamics of a band like Led Zeppelin, Witchfinder General were far more interested in putting out a post-Sabbath type grind instead. The band despite their lack of success, are commonly seen as one of the real pioneers of the doom metal scene and despite not being the oldest of these pioneer bands, were one of the first though to put out an album that resonated a doom metal sound. Since this journal started, there have been numerous bands that have had tracks that could be seen as big influences on doom metal and some of these are even older bands than Witchfinder General. For example a band like Pentagram had been playing a doomy sound well before their British counterparts, but Witchfinder General beat these bands when it came to issuing out a debut album, as well as also beating then fellow doomy newbies such as Saint Vitus and Trouble to debuts as well by a couple of years. Everything about Witchfinder General from the band name, which was delightfully chosen from the excellent Vincent Price horror flick the Witchfinder General 1968, right down to the lusty topless wench being put to death and was described as 'top tack' by Kerrang! shows just how meticulous the band were in laying down the foundations of their image (I’m joking here) This is compared to say the five minutes that Black Sabbath must’ve taken all those years ago in securing theirs! But whereas Black Sabbath emerged as musical metal maestros practically from the word go, Witchfinder General were always going to be a band looking just to make their niche somewhere in an ever-growing metal spectrum. The band had those obvious 70s influences right from the acoustic laid-back guitar intro on the album opener “Invisible Hate” before the song beefs itself up into the band’s typical Sabbath grind. This trend is then carried forth on tracks like “Death Penalty” the plodding tunefulness of “Burning a Sinner” and finally onto “R.I.P” with its stabby Devo type vocals. Now despite their doom metal associations, Witchfinder General well and truly also dug the faster dynamics of Black Sabbath as well and these can be heard on tracks like “Free Country” an obvious nod towards “Paranoid”. Vocalist Zeeb Parkes on the one hand suffers much like a number of other NWOBHM vocalists with his limited range, but much like say Kevin Heybourne of Angel Witch, the quality of the material on the album covers most of those those vocal inadequacies without too much of a problem. The album is littered with a bucketful of silly lyrics and some silly songs (yes those two about halfway through the album) but luckily Zeeb Parkes’ pseudo Ozzy Osbourne type vocals can pull the whole thing off, as do Phil Cope’s Tony Iommi inspired riffs. Now if such a thing exists, Death Penalty is a silly easy-listening doom metal/Sabbath style album that just happens to be pretty ace from start to finish.

Album
If the band’s insidious debut Welcome to Hell would end up as being one of the most influential metal albums of all time, then their second album Black Metal would actually end up going one better and give birth to a completely new metal sub-genre in a few years time, that of course being the nefarious Norwegien black metal scene. All Music describes these early Venom albums as a true Frankenstein monster, but as they weren’t actually created by a gifted if insane Doctor Frankenstein type composer, these early Venom albums can be seen as being created by the monster itself, despite this view Venom were still an extremely creative and visionary force, and were well and truly ahead of their time. The problem was though, was that Venom just didn’t have the ability to truly execute their prophetic vision in the style it truly deserved. Both Welcome to Hell and Black Metal had the Frankenstein monster zipping around in the most insidious manner possible and discovering the delights of Satanism in the process! Venom were always going to be doomed commercially with their non-palatable basement production approach, so the Newcastle trio focused on giving the monster that they had created on the previous album, its first steps around their gloomy mansion and the ultimate trip outside would have to wait until their next album! As for the songs on Black Metal, the title track “Black Metal” with its grisly chainsaw opening, quickly blasts into a quintessential proto-thrash metal track and that’s what this album is in most aspects, a potent and gloomy proto-thrash piece, but it does also serve as a proto-black metal template as well. The constant similarities with Motorhead (as mentioned on their previous review) can be heard on a number of tracks like “To Hell and Back” and “Sacrifice” but instead of singing about tales of the road, Venom simply prefer to sing about their mate Lucifer! Venom also made great use of sound effects on the album and apart from the chainsaw opening on the title track, they made excellent use of a shovel briefly on “Buried Alive” one of the best tracks on the album and the song resonates some real classic era-Alice Cooper vibes to boot as well. Dave Mustaine must’ve got the musical and vocal template for Megadeth with “Leave Me in Hell” which plays more complex than most Venom songs to date and sounds like the sort of thing that Megadeth could’ve easily done as an original as well. These thrash similarities continue with “Countess Bathory” the best song on the album along with “Don’t Burn the Witch/At War with Satan (preview)” and with “Countess Bathory” Metallica surely got the basis for “Battery” several years later and if more of the songs were as potent as these two songs, the album would’ve figured in with the cream at the top of this year’s listings. Some of the songs like the goofy “Teacher’s Pet” with its yobo style chants and its totally unexpected bluesy middle section, neither hang one way or another and I guess are an acquired taste. With the thrash metal breakthrough just around the corner, Black Metal with its dark malice would further add fuel to that fire, earning the album and the band the definitive proto-thrash label. On the one hand Black Metal like Welcome to Hell are original metal classics, but on the second are weakened by the band’s subpar production and their limited ability as musicians.

Cronos- Bass/Vocals
Mantas- Guitar
Abaddon- Drums

Production- Keith Nichol

Venom's Black Metal was released on a label named Neat? That's hella apt.

As you say it's apt and it was a local label based in Newcastle that was pretty fundamental in promoting NWOBHM bands in the area. They also produced some punk bands as well (but punk's not really my thing, so I don't know which punk bands they dealt with)

Overview
By the time of their second studio album, Diamond Head were a band that were certainly living on borrowed time and that borrowed time was fast running out. As by 1982 their principal rivals Iron Maiden and Saxon were already three or four albums in and the likes of Def Leppard had already conquered the UK metal scene, and were now going down a scorcher in the US! While all this was happening, Diamond Head in 1980 and 1981 had squandered much of their time and were now seriously playing catch-up to those bands (something of course they never ultimately achieved sadly) Their debut album Lightning to the Nations had been the greatest NWOBHM album imo (see review) but it had been marketed so badly that it bombed back in 1980! By 1982 Diamond Head were now under the auspices of a major label in MCA and were working on their second album Borrowed Time, before this the band had released a four track EP as a taster called Four Cuts which contained “Call Me” and “Trick or Treat” as it’s a-side with the former appearing on the Borrowed Time album, on its b-side were “Dead Reckoning” and “Shoot Out the Lights” with the latter here a re-recording from their debut album sessions. Now instead of releasing this EP, what the band should’ve done in 1982 was to re-release their classic debut album and re-package it visually like an Iron Maiden album (they may have had problems with their previous label which could’ve prevented this anyway) and then release seven new original tracks for the Borrowed Time album, as they had done so on Lightning to the Nations. This would’ve given the band maximum exposure in 1982 (taking a leaf out of Saxon’s book in this regard) and given the band the huge commercial break they so desperately sought. As a metal band they were fully encompassed into the UK metal scene and had also made sure that Borrowed Time got an album cover worthy of the band’s talents and potential status. As for the actual album, the big and fundamental decision that would surround Borrowed Time was the inclusion of two pivotal tracks from the classic debut in “Lightning to the Nations” and “Am I Evil?” which was a strange move for a seven-track album, as there were only now five original tracks that would feature on their long-awaited sophomore set. This move was further undermined by the fact, that these two classic tracks were actually seen as inferior versions than what appeared on their debut album (probably had something to do with the crisper production the band now had as well) Production would be provided by Mike Hedges and the album would crack the top 30 of the UK album chart, with Steve Harris and Brian Tatler once again writing all the album’s material. In hindsight the album would be seen as the band’s biggest disappointment.

Verdict
So now with Diamond Head signed up to MCA and with huge expectations surrounding the band, did Borrowed Time the band’s first major label release really measure up to the band’s capabilities? First off, I really think the band got it all wrong with the idea of releasing an album that carried two tracks over from their debut album and instead they should’ve released a complete collection of original tracks (it’s not as if the band had a shortage of material either as future expanded versions of the album would prove) Secondly the band probably gave too much emphasis on trying to meld their metal sound with a very palatable melodic rock, nothing wrong with this but in Diamond Head’s case it seemed to really water-down the inherent menace of the band. Now it’s largely for these negative pointers that the album only makes number 10 on this year’s list, but then again Diamond Head’s seconds were often better than many band’s firsts. Also the album itself was seen as a disappointment by the critics as well, due to the band’s greater emphasis on commercial sounding material which is highlighted on the five original tracks that they produced for the album, a factor that I can completely agree with to a certain degree, because Diamond Head were very much a band of sinister musings! With all this in mind, I’m still convindcd though that Borrowed Time is a worthy album despite not being a classic and it's an album that has a certain allure as well. If we look at the five original cuts that appeared on the album “In the Heat of the Night” is the type of melodic track that the band did so well and its commercial mid-paced aura labels it as a track that an American fanbase would’ve thrived on. Now I’m less of a fan of the second track “To Heaven from Hell” which comes across as a somewhat static sounding hard rock plodder and even its speedier middle section doesn’t make its six minutes go that much quicker either. But “Call Me” like “In the Heat of the Night” is a track is built to last and one of the best put out by the band, despite its Foreigner sounding overtures! But the album’s crowning glory is surely its accomplished title track “Borrowed Time” a song perfectly suited to the vocal style of Steve Harris and the guitar lead of Brian Tatler. The fifth track of this bunch is the seven minute “Don’t You Ever Leave Me” which is a throwback to the 1970s with its bluesy section which dominates the latter part of the song. At times it’s actually difficult to see the influence that Diamond Head had on bands like Metallica and Megadeath and imo this link is actually overplayed, as Diamond Head’s melodic AOR tracks that frequently appear on the debut and especially on Borrowed Time, are in many ways an antithesis of what extreme metal would be all about. But then again Diamond Head had put out some truly menacing tracks like “Am I Evil?” that showcased the full dynamics of the band, something that when combined with their more melodic side, truly made them a metal chameleon in every aspect.

Steve Harris- Vocals
Brian Tatler- Guitar
Brian Kimberley- Bass
Duncan Scott- Drums

Production- Mike Hedges

None of songs were even half as good as anything from their debut. I'd probably actually rather listen to them ripping off Def Leppard. At least then they know how to make an ear worm.

I'd say that album was more then half as good, but it certainly didn't hit me as heavy as their debut. Also of note Persian Risk was on that label which had Phil Campbell on guitar who is one of my heroes of metal. If you don't know who Phil Campbell is I can't help you.

"In the Heat of the Night" "Call Me" and "Borrowed Time" were as good as anything on the debut.

Persian Risk, that must be the first time I've ever heard them being mentioned on the forum and the only reason I know them is because of the fancy name.

Overview
After churning out an amazing triumvirate of albums in just a few short years Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law and Denim and Leather (see reviews) it was fitting that Saxon one of the tightest and most exciting bands of the NWOBHM would grace us with a live offering. 1982 was a pivotal year for the band, as Iron Maiden would become the hottest heavy metal band in the world with The Number of the Beast album and Def Leppard were preparing for their massive onslaught of the American market the following year with Pyromania. So with heavy metal reaching the far flung corners and senses of the listening masses, this period should’ve also belonged to Saxon as well and a live album seemed a fitting celebration in anticipation of that goal. The problem was though, was that critics felt differently about this and attacked the band for what they saw as a below-par live release (something I obviously disagree with, as do many others now in hindsight) as critics thought the album was no more than a quick attempt to cash-in by the band, with a kind of greatest hits album that just happened to be in a live-setting. Also criticized were some of the bands song choices and performances to boot as well. In fact much the same had taken place with UFO’s Strangers in the Night live album (see 1979 review) and thanks to critics this had been one of the numerous reasons for UFO’s rapid decline as a major player, and Saxon in many ways would now take the same and similar downward spiral from the upper echelons of the metal world. Overall though and in response to the critics, The Eagle Has Landed would be like any number of other worthy live albums from the period, in that it would be severely cut by the label, who as always would leave off some of the material that they shouldn’t have done and many years later would re-issue of the album to include these as bonus tracks, but the bonus tracks for this album wouldn’t come out until 2006! Also the band went through the departure of core drummer Peter Gill who would finish up with Motorhead and he was replaced by Nigel Glockler (ex-Toyah) who would go onto to become the mainstay drummer of the band. The album was recorded from the Denim and Leather UK and European tour throughout 1981-1982, and the album title is a play on the war film The Eagle Has Landed of the same name. The album also supposedly won the UK British Heavy Metal Live award (not that that means much anyway) Chartwise the album would do the business in the UK album charts where it reached an impressive no.5 slot and would be one the last major charting positions by the band.

Verdict
The 1970s may well have been the era of the live album and like double albums, were usually only given to worthy bands. But in the 1980s live albums by metal bands were very much an expected release to both satisfy both genre fans and the record labels. As a band Saxon were always one of the better live acts at the start of the decade and for this reason The Eagle Has Landed is in such a lofty position on this year’s list, despite certain songs being omitted from the album. The Eagle Has Landed is a live album by the Saxon metal beast that seamlessly shifs from song to song in all its glory and the album starts with the Wheels of Steel duo “Motorcycle Man” and “747 (Strangers in the Night)” the former one of the band’s now trademark speed metal offerings and the second a superb lesson in mid-paced melodic metal ambience. Then comes the popular opener from the Denim and Leather album “Princess of the Night” the band’s so-called love song about a train and this track is then followed by two tracks from the Strong Arm of the Law album, “Strong Arm of the Law” and “Heavy Metal Thunder” the former one of the band’s mid-tempo essentials and the latter one of the band’s heaviest tracks. Speaking of one of their heavier tracks, we then go onto one of their fastest tracks in “20,000 FT” which starts the second side of the album. Next is the third killer track from Wheels of Steel and that is the memorable and enticing title track “Wheels of Steel” which is greatly extended thanks to Biff Byfords interaction with the crowd. The next two cuts are from Denim and Leather “Never Surrender” which easily could’ve been left off in favour of a stronger track, but they’re right on cue again with “Fire in the Sky” one of the band’s fastest and this leads into “Machine Gun” which contains one of the band’s best ever riffs to close the album. Of the criticized omissions from the album, none come any greater than tracks like the band’s classic ode to metal “Denim and Leather” the equally superb “And the Bands Played On” and also “Midnight Rider” one of the band’s slickest tracks. These are three of the most obvious tracks that should’ve been included in the original pressings for the album. Overall The Eagle Has Landed contains most of the bands essential proto-speed and testosterone metal classics that have been garnered from the classic Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law and Denim & Leather albums (nothing from the disappointing debut luckily) Biff Byford as expected interacts Biff style with the audience, but it’s the twin-guitar team of Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn that probably end up as being the stars of the album though.

Biff Byford- Vocals
Graham Oliver- Guitar
Paul Quinn- Guitar
Steve Dawson- Bass
Nigel Glockler- Drums

Production- Saxon

For anybody following this journal, The Batlord has been kind enough to start adding an index at the start of this journal, which will make it easier for anybody looking to search through it (should take him a few days)

Overview
When most bands either make their critical or commercial breakthrough it normally happens on one of their studio albums and in some cases it takes a live album, but in the case of Finland’s Hanoi Rocks it happened to be on one of those ‘bits and bobs’ or ‘odds and ends’ albums. Therefore Self Destruction Blues was basically a compilation album of material made up from singles and b-sides etc that had been recorded by the band throughout 1980 and 1981, and strangely enough this material ended up being far superior than what had appeared on the band’s first two albums. Hanoi Rocks were without doubt one of the earliest examples from the glam metal genre and along with Motley Crue, Twisted Sister and the lesser known Girl from the UK, they were vital for the glam metal explosion that was about to happen. They were also one of those Scandinavian heavy metal/hard rock bands they were around before that whole scene took-off there several years later and due to local limitations quickly based themselves in London in the early 1980s and everything about Hanoi Rocks (btw a friggin cool name) smacked of glam rock down to the tiniest detail. The aesthetic of the band rivalled that of Motley Crue and in vocalist Michael Monroe they had their very own David Johansen and in Andy McCoy their very own Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards glam style of course. Added to this were the superbly named other guitarist Nasty Suicide and bassist and drummer Sam Yaffa and Gyp Casino (btw none of these were their real names of course) Like any glam inspired band they namechecked all the usual suspects, which included the New York Dolls, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and the British glam rock bands of the 1970s as well the Rolling Stones. But whereas Motley Crue were looking to follow the Van Halen line in the sleaziest way possible, Twisted Sister a heavy pounding metal sound in the most gharish way possible, Hanoi Rocks were far more indebted to the UK punk/art rock scene of the late 1970s and bands like The Clash, the Damned and Japan etc were as just as important to them as the previously mentioned usual suspects. The band’s first two albums included the decent and greatly named Bangkok Shocks, Saigan Shakes, Hanoi Rocks 1981 and the much weaker and disappointing second album Oriental Beat 1982, but in terms of quality Self Destruction Blues trumps either of those two albums imo. The album was written by Andy McCoy and produced by both Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy who had called themselves ‘The Muddy Twins’ taking their cue of course from the Stones and their ‘The Glimmer Twins’ Jagger/Richards, as Aerosmith had done many years earlier with the ‘The Toxic Twins’ Tyler/Perry.

Album
Self Destruction Blues sits largely as a stand alone album in this year’s listings, for the simple reason that it owes so much to punk more so than it does to hard rock let alone heavy metal, but it makes the list given its importance and feel for the soon to explode glam metal scene just around the corner in the USA. The album has so much energy and bite, and feels like a great starter ordered in a restaurant before moving onto the main course. This sonic bite is there from the moment the starter is delivered and starts with the raucous “Love’s an Injection” a song that will either gets you hooked or not tastewise when it comes to the rest of the album. On “I Want You” Michael Monroe sings ‘Oh, hold on, we’re gonna make this a big one’ and the song quickly comes off as a great take on any number of Rolling Stones’ tracks and shows the band’s ambition and the knowledge that their timing was right for a commercial breakthrough. The highlights of the album might be the slick “Kill City” a song which perfectly captures the band’s glam rock style with a Rolling Stones cum Blondie style ambience. Then there is the melodic “Whispers in the Dark” a classic sounding pop piece stiffened up by some heavy sounding guitar work. But there are some tracks like “Café Avenue” which are distinctly punk in their arrangements, instead of being more hybrid issues like some of the other tracks. Like any compilation album, not everything works on the album and the title track “Self Destruction Blues” with its heavy blues feels distinctly out of place on the album. Also “Desperados” which in places covers difficult Clash territory and doesn’t always work. On most of the songs Michael Monroe vocally come across as a great mix between Mick Jagger and David Johansen, and he also has the added feature of playing the sax as well! Also on the stone cold “Taxi Driver” he sounds like those two along with touches of Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper, showing that despite having a limited range that he can cover the whole spectrum. The strength of Hanoi Rocks is in the fact that they are able to meld their multitude of influences into their own sound and the whole thing comes across like a trashy back alley romp, as let’s face it there aren’t too many bands out there that can sound like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Blondie all the same time, whilst having mascara running down their faces! Overall Self Destruction Blues is dressed and dolled up to the nines, and sounds like one of those great albums that should be listened to before going out on a Saturday night out whether it be the 80s, 90’s, 00’s………… I’m sure you get the idea.
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Michael Monroe- Vocals/Sax
Andy McCoy- Guitar
Nasty Suicide- Guitar
Sam Yaffa- Bass
Gyp Casino- Drums

Production- The Muddy Twins