12. Samson Shock Tactics 1981 (RCA)
Heavy Metal
Earth mother suck my breath of air.
Album
The band’s previous album
Head On had seen the melodic guitar playing of band leader Paul Samson take on a more focused metal approach despite really just being a blues guitarist at heart. This combined with new singer Bruce Dickinson (still just known as Bruce Bruce at this time) had now turned the band into essential NWOBHM listening for those in the know. So by the time of their third studio album
Shock Tactics Samson were surely looking to make the jump into the big league and join the likes of Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon at the top of the metal pile. Now some reviews often state
Shock Tactics as one of the best NWOBHM albums in its golden era at the start of the 1980s, personally I just think it’s a solid album hence its position on this year’s listings at position 12. The album starts off with the Russ Ballad penned “Riding With Angels” and like anything by Russ Ballad (the man made a career out of writing songs for others, as well as having them cover his own songs too) the song is built around that catchy and instant Russ Ballad punch. Other tracks include the rated “Nice Girl” but I think it’s just average fare though, then there is the routine “Go to Hell” and "Bright Lights" which is probably the fastest track on the album and finally there is the bluesy “Grime Crime” which really doesn’t convince in what it sets out to do. In fact a large amount of these tracks actually sound like routine Iron Maiden and that just goes to show the influence musically that Bruce Dickinson would have on Iron Maiden. The best tracks on the album are without doubt the somewhat gripping “Earth Mother” which has the vocals of Bruce Dickinson at their best and the added bonus of Paul Samson matching him on guitar. Then there is “Bloodlust” a 6 minute pounder which has touches of musical variety and then there is the equally heavy “Once Bitten” which has a great riff throughout, but the pick of the bunch is the pretty epic album closer “Communion” a song pretty much built for the vocal chords of Bruce Dickinson. After this album Bruce Dickinson would leave the band stating the dire management and record label that the band had, but of course Iron Maiden were without doubt fishing for him as well and coincidently when Samson were recording this album, Iron Maiden were in the next recording studio recording
Killers! Even before his material with Iron Maiden Bruce Dickinson was pretty much the full package as a vocalist and his two albums with Samson demonstrate this, but of course in Iron Maiden he had the wheels of superstardom more in his grasp, largely thanks to the powerful twin-guitar attack of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith to augment him.
Shock Tactics is usually regarded as the band’s best album, but Kerrang! I’ve noted regard their 1982 album without Bruce Dickinson
Before the Storm as their actual best.