25. Pretty Maids Red, Hot and Heavy 1984 (CBS)
Heavy Metal
The night of the demon, took my hopes away.
The Lowdown
Wikipedia describes Danish band the Pretty Maids as hard rock/heavy metal which is no surprise as they started out as a covers band doing mostly Thin Lizzy material, in fact the final track here is a Thin Lizzy song. But on listening to
Red, Hot and Heavy the album is not as straightforward as one would think and the album in many ways mixes speed metal and AOR with European power metal, the latter the soon-to-be-bastion sound of European metal anyway. Overall there is also plenty of variety in the metal being dished out here, ranging from the style of screaming metal to slower fist-shaking material. Overall the album is a hodgepodge of styles that is done surprisingly well and the album takes a few listens for this to become apparent and imo it’s mostly going to appeal to somebody into that speed metal meets power metal sound of this time. As mentioned in my 1984 introduction, continental Europe was absolutely flourishing with quality metal bands at this time especially from both Germany and Sweden, but with bands like the Pretty Maids and Mercyful Fate much smaller Denmark was making its mark as well and the two bands mentioned here are very different as well (Mercyful Fate appear much higher on this year’s list) Despite never making a big commercial breakthrough, the Pretty Maids have over the years supported some of the biggest names in heavy metal and they have only really penetrated the Japanese market in terms of record sales (the Japanese were often into bands that didn’t break elsewhere…… shows they had taste really) The Pretty Maids were a six-member outfit with two guitarists and most notably a keyboardist, so it’s no surprise on listening to the album, that a number of tracks have a very fleshed out feel to them. They also decided to use anglicized names instead of their own nordic names, but imo their own names sounded much better than the bland names chosen, even though Ken Hammer is easily the best of the bunch, no surprise really as hammer=metal. The band had put out a six track EP the previous year, which had a woman on the cover fondling a guitar with her legs, for their debut album the album cover went in for something more gothic in that late 70s early 80s style, just think Elvira Mistress of the Night here. The album opens with Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi” often used in movies and imo is used here to great effect (even though I think the band didn’t spell the name correctly) The first track proper is the driving “Back to Back” one of those fusions of speed metal meets power metal, something that so many bands were doing around this time and the song is highlighted by a great guitar solo. The title track “Red, Hot and Heavy” is a slower but heavier track and is blood and guts sounding all the way. Third track is completely different again “Waiting For the Time” this is quite simply a basic AOR track with a euro-metal tinge to it, I like it but I don’t imagine a lot of metalheads being too impressed with it. “Cold Killer” is right back into heavier territory and about a serial killer, it opens up with an American news report and is highlighted by Ken Hammer’s nifty guitar solo late in the song. The next two songs “Battle of Pride” and “Night Danger” are galloping songs and I really dig the heavier and slower chorus section of the first song here. Now this album keeps some of its best until the end with “A Place in the Night” a pretty stalwart AOR track for the time, but it has just enough meat to get by on a metal album. “Queen of Dreams” is more keyboard driven and is probably the most ambitious track on the whole album, before the album finishes with a cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Little Darling”. Two of the songs on the album “Back to Back” was later covered by HammerFall and “Night Danger” appeared on Lamberto Bava’s Italian horror film Demons, which instantly makes the band cool as far as I’m concerned. Overall singer Ronnie Atkins (Paul Christiansen) is an impressive vocalist that could easily bring his voice to the various sounds being put out by the band and Ken Hammer is an impressive axe-slinger. Overall a number of the tracks have elements lifted from other artists, but even if that’s the case the Pretty Maids have done the operation well. The album also managed a place in Rock Hard’s ‘The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time’ list.
Ronnie Atkins- Vocals
Ken Hammer- Guitar
Rick Hansen- Guitar
John Darrow- Bass
Alan Owen- Keyboards
Phil Moorhead- Drums
Production- Billy Cross/Tommy Hansen