Unknown Soldier

Overview
The ‘heavy movement’ of this period was undoubtedly dominated by British acts, who had shown a far greater level of both commercial success and innovation within the genre, just think both Black Sabbath and Deep Purple here in terms of innovation and Led Zeppelin taking the blues to its heavy conclusion. The only US acts that could compete here were Grand Funk Railroad in commercial terms and recent breakthrough Alice Cooper in terms of innovation, but neither of these bands were seen as actual pioneers of the American proto-metal movement. This honour would fall to established acts like Blue Cheer and Mountain, along with newer bands like the previously featured Sir Lord Baltimore and Dust. Like Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust were another New York based outfit and like Sir Lord Baltimore were a three piece band and in additional member Kenny Kerner they had a lyricist and a producer. The one thing all these bands had in common though, was the tendency to operate as power-trios and the power-trio that Dust most aspired to sounding like, surely had to be Mountain and across the band’s minimal two album discography, there are strong links to the Mountain sound. Their first album which featured on my “Albums that missed the cut……” section for 1971, had seen the band put out a decent effort and the album had a definite Mountain influence to it. Their sophomore effort Hard Attack, would be an all-round more accomplished effort and despite its heavy leaning title, the band mixed in quite a few quieter moments and showed that they had real song writing qualities to match their all-out assault, and they certainly weren’t afraid to mix up the diversity either. Whilst the band would never achieve any real success, the band members would go on to other projects, with Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise forming a production team, who of course would go on to produce the first two Kiss albums a few years later, Kenny Aaronson would join Stories and Marc Bell would eventually wind up several years later as Marky Ramone! On a final note, the album cover of Hard Attack was extremely forward thinking for its time and would not have looked out of place ten years later in the era of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) or even as an album cover for a 1980s power metal band!

Richie Wise- Guitar/Vocals
Kenny Aaronson- Bass
Marc Bell- Drums

Production- Kenny Kerner

Album
Pull Away/So Many Times- Starts off with a gentle acoustic intro before the pace really picks up and leads us into quite a frantic song, before sweeping us back into another gentle interlude and then finally moving into heavier territory. Walk in the Soft Rain- A great example of the band’s songcraft, as gentle sections are meshed in with heavier sprinklings, this is really an accomplished song. Thusly Spoken- A slow moving song and I’m guessing that the listener by now, is probably wondering if this is actually a proto-metal album……listen on and find out. Learning to Die- Now we move into true heavy territory and this is a great song, even if it sounds amazingly at times like Mountain’s “Nantucket Sleighride” and in many ways sounds like a seminal heavy track of its era. All in All- Just a typical mid-album rocker, solid but nothing special. I Been Thinkin- Another quieter track before the album moves into its thumping instrumental effort. Ivory- A stunning instrumental set of less than 3 minutes, as the band show just what accomplished musicians they are, with some great guitar and drum work. How Many Horses- The most offbeat and unexpected track on the album and has a subtle country feel to it as well. Suicide- A stomping track that is truly heavy and amazingly covers similar ground to the “Suicide” track recorded by Stray a year earlier and also reminds me of the “Crazy Horses” track by the Osmonds, strangely enough also recorded in 1972. Entanco- A gentle acoustic outro.

Verdict
This again is another album that may not appeal to quite a few listeners and I’m guessing that anybody unfamiliar with the band, may not get what they might have expected from reading the overview and seeing the album title and its cover! Sure the listener will find the heaviness of Sir Lord Baltimore here, the sonic assault of Mountain, but they might not be expecting the numerous softer tracks, which sound far removed at times from a band of their ilk. The term accredited to the album ‘proto-metal’ might well be misleading as well thanks to the progressive elements featured here, but one thing is certain though, is that this band could be heavy when they wanted to. They could be heavy in an all-out assault style like Sir Lord Baltimore on the superb “Learning to Die” or on the instrumental “Ivory" but also in a much slower more methodical way and this style is very much in evidence on “Suicide”, which in turn makes some of the softer tracks like “Thusly Spoken” a real delight on the ears. Listening to this album, reveals quite a different band from some of their American counterparts, as they really had a flair for the melodic and songcraft, rather than a straight-up sonic assault and had they stayed together as a band, they may well have moved out of heavy territory and into softer terrain. As a band they could play and in frontman Richie Wise they had a stellar guitarist who could play a certain number of styles, but he was probably best highlighted on the “Learning to Die” and “Suicide” tracks. Overall the album is a great example of a band combining heavy numbers with quieter numbers and really demonstrating a contrast between the two styles. Another trick the band used to great effect on Hard Attack, is that you never really know what kind of track could be coming up next, whether it’s a gentle interlude or a real power drill effort, which really adds interest to the album. Dust as a band never really got off the ground and this album is one of those almost forgotten American proto-metal classics (if proto-metal is the right word for them) that has stayed locked away….. in a long forgotten musical vault.

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