Unknown Soldier

When people think of cheesy metal, they normally think of the less serious sounding power metal bands of the 1980s or some of the excessive sounding glam metal bands from that same decade as well. But before these two genres were even coined, a certain ex-Canadian bodybuilder and stage-wrestler called Jon Mikl who was simply known as the Norse God Thor, may well have had a strong case for being the originator of all the cheesy aspects, that would go on to affect metal over the following couple of decades. He had already recorded a debut album with his band the previous year, under the name of Thor and the Imps and it was titled unsurprisingly Muscle Rock, and despite its shortcomings the album was deemed a success in Canada and the band soon attracted attention in the USA from the RCA label. After a stint on stage in Las Vegas, Jon Mikl Thor now simply known as Thor, reshaped his band and they released their first album under the Thor name Keep the Dogs Away and this album certainly had a one mother of a chessy and camp album cover to accompany it.

Song wise most of the songs here are as cheesy as hell and they’re not helped by watching Thor performing on stage in his leather clad muscle man outfit either, but the songs by and large have an almost subdued and lazy feel to them, and surprisingly the whole thing comes across as a kind of enjoyable easy-listening metal. Despite the furor that circulated around Thor at this time, success outside of the club circuit never quite happened for them and despite the odd EP release over the next few years, the band never released another album until 1984 and by that time their music slipped into the power metal labelled box. This album is strictly for metal fanatics that don’t take their metal too seriously.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

It should be said that I’ve never been much of a Queen fan at all, but credit where its due, as the band were truly capable of portraying a sound that at the same time ensconced elements of hard rock, heavy metal, progressive rock and theatrical rock all in a viable commercial sound. The band presented their musical array as a densely layered sound, with operatic overtones and were able to appeal to glamsters, rockers and popsters. The band was always stable with Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May with his coin picking guitar style providing the backbone of the band. But of course it was vocalist Freddie Mercury, who was the undoubted frontman and shining light of the band. The consummate frontman and with a voice to die for, which was full of distinctive power, that was able to saunter from heavy edged rockers to casual humour with equal aplomb. Queen were certainly able to compose a number of great songs with great playing that kept within the unique confines of the band sound, but these songs were often few and far between compared to some of their main rivals back in the 1970s and the band may well have been one of the best advocates around, for knowing how to bulk out their albums with quality filler based around the voice of Freddie Mercury!

The first three albums Queen, Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack were covered in part 1 back in the 1974 year section (see review) So by the time of the band’s fourth studio album A Night at the Opera, the band had made their huge international breakthrough on Sheer Heart Attack, which was a bold and heavy statement from the band and the most solid album in their discography. Like a lot of bands now at the top of the pile, Queen painstakingly worked on A Night at the Opera (named after a Marx Brothers film) and the album would be their most diverse and bombastic offering to date and would soon be regarded by many as their best work! A Night at the Opera truly encompasses all the diverse aspects of the band and shot them and producer Roy Thomas-Baker into the stratosphere. Personally I think much of the album’s prestige lays in “Bohemian Rhapsody” as I’d be hard pressed to believe that the average music listener would fully appreciate a lot of the rest of the material on offer here, which ranges from moments of diverse brilliant originality to typical Queen filler. The following year’s A Day at the Races is largely seen as the high-profile sequel to A Night at the Opera, but tends to have a lighter overall tone than the previous album and in my opinion it’s probably the album most representative of the band and easiest on the ear. The same couldn’t be said though for 1977’s News of the World, which despite having a great album cover and containing two of the bands best known anthem tracks, is an often brazenly harder affair that despite its diversity, just hangs together in places and is too disjointed to be seen as a great album.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Part 1 had shown how Hawkwind and their brand of space rock, were firmly based around the science fiction and astronomical themes of writer Michael Moorcock and on that basis, they turned out to be one of the most bizarre bands on the rock circuit throughout much of the 1970s and certainly one of the most impregnable to listen to, for the untrained ear that is! With the band’s main focal point always being frontman Dave Brock and with a revolving cast of band vitals such as Nik Turner, Lemmy, Robert Calvert and the crucial Simon House who arrived on Warrior on the Edge of Time album. The band had over the years, solidly taken space rock and turned it into a far heavier creature, which usually lumbered around in some kind of daze most of the time! Their own unique melange of guitar based heavy space rock with ambient electronica and strong experimental touches, had become their dominant sound by the middle of the decade. But as the decade went on, their newer sound started to challenge the albums that the band had laid down earlier in their discography. There was certainly a band transition from the Warrior on the Edge of Time to the following album Astounding Songs, Amazing Music just a year later. It’s around this time that the band became less focused but more unpredictable in their music and direction. Their sound actually lightened up quite a bit after the departure of Lemmy and also due to the influences of Lemmy’s replacement Paul Rudolph (for one album) of the Pink Fairies and the return of Robert Calvert who steered the band in this lighter direction, and the band were now taking on a more cleaner and theatrical musical stance to their overall sound. It now seemed that the band were evolving from their manic spaced-out brain damaged state, to that of a band that sounds like its rehabilitating itself, but without ever trying to find sanity again and Quark, Strangeness and Charm is the perfect example of this.

Warrior on the Edge of Time: Stylish and atmospheric and possibly the best constructed album in the whole Hawkwind discography. With Del Dettmar having already left the band, it would now be the turn of Lemmy after this release, which would also spell the end of the band’s classic line-up and their heavier sound. When I re-listened to this album, it became my overall favourite in their discography.
Astounding Songs, Amazing Music: Interesting songs, lighter music may well have been a better album title here. Here the band attempt to shift from the dense and impregnable space rock sound of which they were known for to a more accessible lighter brand, but that’s not to say that it was particularly listener friendly either.
Quark, Strangeness and Charm: The new sound of the band has fully flowered here and an album that is held very high in esteem by the band’s devotees. The album is a charming kaleidoscope of diverse sounds and is one of the band's essential releases.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

1978

1978 was a stellar year especially if you were a punk/post-punk or new-wave band, in fact I bought my first ever singles at this time (actually they were bought for me) and they were Blondie, Boomtown Rats and Showaddywaddy yep **** Showaddywaddy! It was also a fantastic year for AOR and in fact a great year for most musical genres. But for the ‘heavy scene’ it was very much a year in the doldrums creatively and would throw up one of the poorest years since I started with this journal. As always the half dozen or so great albums at the top end of the list easily picked themselves, but it was something of a struggle to fill out the rest of the list with quality releases! Now at first glance 1978 is a very deceptive year, because as already noted it was a poor year BUT that tag refers largely to studio releases and not live releases, because 1978 threw one of the best years on record with quality live releases! The crisis affecting the ‘heavy scene’ as a whole was not largely unsurprising as its early pioneers in Led Zeppelin, Back Sabbath and Deep Purple were either struggling to push the cart out or were simply no more. It’s next wave of bands such as Uriah Heep, Budgie and Alice Cooper amongst others had run out of steam, and other bands such Nazareth and Blue Oyster Cult were looking to realign themselves with current trends. The flag was therefore kept flying by the likes of UFO, Rainbow and Thin Lizzy in the UK and with Aerosmith and Kiss doing the same stateside. This was all good and well, but it was certainly at the expense of new blood not only not coming through, but not getting the right exposure once it did and the scene was therefore in an urgent need of inspiration, but all was not lost as two bands would prove there was still hope! Firstly Judas Priest were the pivotal band here and not only for the year but also for the final quarter of the decade, as they essentially traced their metal line right from the heart of Black Sabbath and blasted it right through to the explosion that would be the arrival of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in 1980. Not only were Judas Priest one of the most important metal flag bearers ever, they were also one of the most innovative as well, as they not only carried the metal flag, but basically re-wrote large chunks of the script. Secondly and running parallel to Judas Priest stateside, were new arrivals Van Halen who would typify a number of different characteristics in the metal genre in relation to Judas Priest, but in their own way would prove to be as equally influential.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

A samurai in the land of the rising sun.

Overview
Since departing from Deep Purple back in 1973, it had taken Ian Gillan a number of years to get back into the swing of things and that was on the slightly unexpected Ian Gillan Band project, which despite being loud when they wanted to be, was more of a jazz-fusion project with an experimental slant to them. The first album of the Ian Gillan Band had been the Child in Time album (see review) and this was the best album of the three he did in this set-up, as the other two released in 1977 Clear Air Turbulence and the superbly named Scarabus did very little for me. The Ian Gillan Band with its highly noted session players, always felt like a temporary project anyway and it was no surprise that Ian Gillan now under the moniker of just Gillan, would eventually drift back onto more familiar ground and that would be a more standard hard rock sound. His second post-Deep Purple project would be his most popular stint as a solo artist and it would be all change with his array of backing musicians as well. The Gillan band would go through a number of personnel changes over the ensuing years, but keyboardist Colin Towns would be the crucial element on these Gillan albums, along with bassist John McCoy. The majority of the songs are joint Ian Gillan and Colin Towns compositions, which show just how influential Colin Towns would be for Ian Gillan here. This debut album though, is blighted by a couple of setbacks for Ian Gillan. Firstly despite the reputation of Ian Gillan, this album was patched in for a Japanese only release, which certainly hampered sales in the two most important markets the US and the UK. Secondly apart from the aforementioned Colin Towns and bassist John McCoy, the other band members would also be replaced by the following year. With all this occurring, it was therefore quite appropriate that the album cover had a crazed Syd Barrett type image dominating it! There is also a much longer 1993 version of this album, which also combines tracks from 1979’s Mr. Universe album (Ian Gillan’s best and most popular solo release) and to confuse matters even more, a number of the tracks on the Gillan debut would reappear and be recorded with a different line-up for the following year’s Mr. Universe album, which of course had been slated for an international release.

Ian Gillan- Vocals
Steve Byrd- Guitar
John McCoy- Bass
Colin Towns- Keyboards
Liam Genocky- Drums
Pete Barnacle- Drums

Production- Paul ‘Chas’ Watkins

Album
Second Sight- With its almost Tubular Bells atmospheric start, the song then takes on a familiar Rainbow type stance along with some good work by Colin Towns on keyboards, who also has sole writing credits here and the track then leads into….. Secret of the Dance- We’re now into familiar territory here and that means Deep Purple territory. The song has some a real up-tempo gusto about it and sets the tone for much of the album to come. I’m Your Man- A plodding and melodic effort, which again falls into some more typical Ian Gillan style singing material and it’s one of the more thorough efforts on the album as well. Dead of Night- Similar to the previous track as Ian Gillan tells a tale in his familiar and plodding style. Fighting Man- The second song solely accredited to Colin Towns, so it’s no surprise that the piano features highly on the song and at more than 7 minutes it was obvious that this was pencilled in to be the most accomplished song on the whole album and the song is a true treasure! Message in a Bottle- An energetic album track that kicks off the second side of the album and a song that would feature on the following year’s Mr. Universe. Not Weird Enough- Typical 1970s rock fare here, that is both fun and easy on the ear and probably the most laid back track on the whole album. Bringing Joanna Back- With some crunchy guitar the song is another melodic effort. Abbey of Thelema- With a subdued piano intro and some nice touches by Colin Towns, this song is probably the strongest track on the second side of the album. Back in the Game- As expected the album closer is a pacey effort that does the job and enables the album to finish on a high.

Verdict
There is no shadow of a doubt that Ian Gillan on this debut album, was attempting to realign himself with the Deep Purple sound that had initially made him a superstar back in the early 1970s. So this shift in direction is clearly evident on the pacey and frenzied second track “Secret of the Dance” which ends with some great screaming by Ian Gillan and this same frenzied approach can also be heard on tracks like “Message in a Bottle” and even more so on the album closer “Back in the Game”. This is all then contrasted with the plodding, melodic and heavy songs like “I’m Your Man” and the similar sounding “Dead of Night”. The Colin Towns composed “Fighting Man” is a seven minute slow-burner which focuses on Ian Gillan’s singing and has him singing in some of his cleanest vocals ever and in fact both Colin Towns and Ian Gillan are all over this song, with of course features Ian Gillan’s trademark screaming at its end! The song also happens to be the most accomplished and best effort on the whole album as well. As for the second side of the album, the most interesting song here is probably the “Abbey of Thelema” and that is largely thanks to Colin Town’s great keyboard work. Gillan might not be an essential hard rock listen, but it’s an album that the casual hard rock listener will enjoy, as the songs are both melodic and heavy, but still easy on the ear. As for Ian Gillan and Deep Purple fans, then It’s certainly an essential listen along with its follow-up the far better known Mr. Universe (which of course has numerous songs that were featured on Gillan) In fact no rock fan should miss out on hearing “Fighting Man” which in hindsight sounds like one of those powerful pumping slower tracks that were the highlights of the decade and it’s a song that a band like UFO would have been proud to have called their own as well. Overall Gillan is a steady album in Ian Gillan’s somewhat disjointed solo career and in hindsight Ian Gillan out of the three vocalists that fronted the three biggest hard rock/heavy metal British bands of the 1970s, would see Ian Gillan’s as being the least appreciated out of a trio that consisted of Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne, and for that reason alone Ian Gillan’s solo work is probably the most rewarding of the three as well.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
After the superb Hair of the Dog back in 1975, Scottish hard rockers Nazareth had certainly lost their way somewhat. The two albums that they had released in 1976 Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll and Play ‘n’ the Game had seen the band trade in much of their hard rocking grit for a more commercial sounding softer rock approach, surely in an attempt to breach the burgeoning AOR market in the US at the time. Indeed these albums produced some radio hits and the band demonstrated some interesting diversity on these albums, from their usual flirtation with southern rock right up to their experimentation with psychedelia and pop amongst other styles. The great problem though, was that Nazareth were and out an out hard drinking and hard living rock band and getting them to try and do AOR, was akin to getting say Elton John doing a metal album! By and large though, these two albums were far from terrible and indeed the song “Telelgram” on the former album is an interesting concept, but the albums were never going to really cut it where it mattered. 1977’s Expect No Mercy was a pure return to what the band knew best and the first side of that album is one of the best that the band ever put out, sadly though the album would lose all its spark and beans on its far weaker second side (see albums that missed the cut for 1977) By the release though of 1978’s No Mean City, its title taken from the 1935 novel of the same name, one of the staunchest line-ups around had added a fifth member and second guitarist in the ex-Sensational Alex Harvey Band guitarist Zal Cleminson, in order to give greater depth to their sound. The move on deeper analysis though, might not have been that overly surprising, as Nazareth were surely aware of the benefits that fellow hard rockers Thin Lizzy had achieved with their own dual-guitar team. The group had also realised that pop-sensibilities were never going to be their forte, but I’m guessing the hugely successful “Love Hurts” single a few years earlier had blinded them in that respect, as the whiskey-soaked vocals of Dan McCafferty were only really good for one style of music. Most interestingly and starting with Expect No Mercy and then on No Mean City, the band were putting out some of the most metal album covers ever seen for a 1970s band in an interesting footnote.

Dan McCafferty- Vocals
Manny Charlton- Guitar
Zal Cleminson- Guitar
Pete Agnew- Bass
Darrell Sweet- Drums

Production- Manny Charlton

Album
Just to Get into It- A faster than average Nazareth track and it displays plenty of the band’s newly acquired firepower with the hiring of Zal Cleminson. May the Sunshine- With its Celtic acoustic guitar intro that accompanies much of the song, the whole thing is beefed up with electric guitars and is a rambling track in the acoustic style of Led Zeppelin. The song also has a great bassline from Pete Agnew as well and the song is accomplished in every aspect. Simple Solution, Part 1 & 2- Gritty and addictive and with a great overall feel, this is without doubt one of the real highlights of the album and a really great song, it’s also one of Dan McCafferty’s best vocal performances on the album. Star- A power ballad that has some nice harmony work on offer, but from a vocal perspective and overall feel, the song ultimately fails where it matters and that is in how it resonates with the listener. Claim to Fame- A heavy plodder that is too repetitive for its own good, but it does have some powerful vocal surges from Dan McCafferty. Whatever You Want Babe- A galloping upbeat track that unfortunately sounds like something that Rod Stewart could’ve done and the singing here is disjointed to say the least, but the song is saved by the musical ability of the band. What’s In It For Me- A good album track that despite a certain amount of repetitiveness just seems to hold it altogether where it matters. No Mean City, Part 1 & 2- The album closer is a strong 6 plus minutes track overall and on some versions of the album, there is an instrumental version of “Whatever You Want Babe” which is far superior to the earlier version with vocals.

Verdict
No Mean City was certainly a return to form by Nazareth, not so much in the quality of the overall material on offer here, but more so in its consistency in general and the added benefits of guitarist Zal Cleminson which are evident on much of the album. His added depth is noticeable from the word go on the rocking “Just to Get Into It” and with existing guitarist Manny Charlton the two of them add some great depth on tracks like “May the Sunshine”. The strongest tracks on the album are probably the aforementioned “May the Sunshine” the addictive and fairly hypnotic “Simple Solution, Part 1 & 2” which at times has a guitar riff that would even do Thin Lizzy proud and the album closer the title track "No Mean City, Part 1 & 2". Despite the consistency on offer here, the album does have a few duffers that throw a spanner in the works and they surely come in the form of the power ballad “Star” the repetitive plodder “Claim to Fame” and the vocally woeful “Whatever You Want Babe” which also comes with a far superior instrumental version of the song on some versions of the album. Now none of these are terrible songs per se and they don’t overly detract from the consistent feel of the album, but the problem is that all three of these songs come straight after one another and leave something of a quality hole in the middle of the album, luckily though the back end of No Mean City is not afflicted with the lack of quality that ruined Expect No Mercy. No Mean City is probably the better of all the late 1970s Nazareth releases and shows that the band towards the end of the decade still had something to offer, but in a better year the album would have never ever have been considered for a top ten placing on this year’s list.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
It’s taken the Scorps four studio albums before finally appearing here on my main review list. Now without beating about the bush, the Scorpions are without doubt one of my most beloved of all hard rock and heavy metal bands from the late 1970s and early 1980s period, quite simply due to the number of stunning songs that the band put out, along with the unforgettable powerful nasal whine of Klaus Meine! The Scorpions were also one of the first metal bands that I ever really liked, so the Scorpions always evoke a huge amount of nostalgia for me when it comes to this kind of music! Early Scorpions though, were a far cry from the metal force that they would actually become in the latter period of the 1970s, a force that would make them a major influence on the soon to be NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) Their first album was Lonesome Dove and like a number of non-anglophone bands at this time, it was littered with musical errors as the band tried to meld a hard rock, psychedelic and krautrock effort together. Despite this calamity, it was the only album of their earlier period to feature the mesmeric Michael Schenker before he jumped on the UFO ship, after having impressed whilst the Scorpions were supporting UFO. Their second album Fly to the Rainbow and now featuring Ulrich Roth on guitar was a marked improvement all round and had the roots of their future sound, but Klaus Meine still hadn’t asserted himself vocally, as both Uli Roth and Rudolf Schenker (the group founder and elder brother of Michael) also shared vocal duties on these albums. By the time of their third and fourth albums In Trance and Virgin Killer, the band had dropped the longer musical suites that had plagued their earlier albums and were now churning out a heavier and tighter sound overall, and despite finally finding their niche here and the trademark Scorpion’s sound, a certain something special was still lacking from these albums! Perhaps it was the band still not being fully aware of just how good vocalist Klaus Meine actually was, as guitarist Uli Roth was still chipping in vocally on some albums, or perhaps in was the fact that the band were a German band, who were still trying to find the correct balance that would appeal to a genuine English speaking market. Taken By Force recorded in 1977 and largely released in 1978, would see the band put out their most composed and complete release yet, and the year would be topped off with the superb live album Tokyo Tapes as well.

Album
Steamrock Fever- With an intro that features the brief sound of construction work and then vocals that actually don’t really sound like Klaus Meine, the songs turns out to present itself as a thrustful and meaningful rocker, which has some good work by the band on offer. We’ll Burn the Sky- With its slow ballad type start, the song would quickly pick up pace and give us a steady and rhythmic rocker, before then falling back into a quieter and more intricate musical section and the song keeps these two patterns flourishing together for more than 6 minutes of glory, a true classic. I’ve Got to Be Free- Penned by Uli Roth and a consistent track from beginning to end, and the song is one of the heavier efforts on the album. The Riot of Your Time- With a great guitar strumming intro, this is a dynamic track with a pumping melody and a great example of how good this band were when it came to song titles. This track is one of the best and most accomplished efforts on the album and a prime example of the album’s darker feel. The Sails of Charon- The second side of the album starts with the first of two songs penned by Uli Roth and this the first is the stronger of the two tracks, which also happens to be another album highlight as well, especially with its special effects, rocking intro and outstanding guitar work from Uli Roth. Your Light- This song has a touch of subtle funk in places (Germanic style) and the song after feeling itself out, turns out to be an easy paced album track. He’s a Woman, She’s a Man- A thunderous intro and the band let it all hang out here, but the song is probably too overly repetitive to match the quality of its title. Born to Touch Your Feelings- The album closer would become a virtual blueprint for the slower side of the band over the next several years, as they would duplicate aspects of this sound on their future ballads.

Klaus Meine- Vocals
Ulrich Roth- Guitar
Rudolf Schenker- Rhythm
Francis Buchholz- Bass
Hermann Rarebell- Drums

Production- Dieter Dierks

Verdict
By 1978 one thing was certain and that was the Scorpions were putting out some of the best and most sexually explicit and controversial album covers around (In Trance and Virgin Killer) and Taken By Force would actually see them release an album to match the quality of their covers, even though Taken By Force would be one of their few albums that didn’t feature a woman in a provocative style, it featured a graveyard instead! As said earlier, the band had nearly been there on their two previous albums In Trance and Virgin Killer, two albums very similar in style and sound, and both containing some very good songs, but a certain amount of composure had still been missing on those albums. Taken By Force addresses this slight, as the band now take their foot off the accelerator to give us a much more composed and consistent listen overall. Taken By Force not only has the band fusing their current sound, with the darker style of their earlier albums, but it also sees the band writing longer songs again. These are songs such as “We’ll Burn the Sky” and “Born to Touch Your Feelings” which are two songs of great calibre and demonstrate how the band had now gone full circle musically. The majority of Taken By Force is taken up by a number of thrustful tracks like “Steamrock Fever” and the classic “The Riot of Your Time” which truly laid down the Scorpion’s gauntlet when it came to melodic heavy metal. But what truly made the album special were the aforementioned classic songs like “We’ll Burn the Sky” and “Born to Touch Your Feelings” which are songs that fully encompass the Scorpions sound, a sound which contained rhythmic and melancholic vocals, great guitar work and the band’s uncanny mix of blending powerful rock, that is spliced with moments of epic balladry and yet treats that balladry like a casual verse just slotted into the song. The second side of the album starts two songs penned by Uli Roth and both of the songs give a hint to satanic lyrics but both are very different in style. “The Sails of Charon” is a classic guitar ticker with Uli Roth at his best, whereas “Your Light” is a subtle effort with a tinge of funk. Taken By Force would finally see the Klaus Meine and Ulrich Roth songwriting partnership finally flourish, but alas Ulrich Roth would bale out after this album! Despite the lofty appraisal I’ve given this album, the band would still be capable of producing even better material, which was just around the corner. But what is special about Taken By Force, is that it’s an accomplished piece of work, by a band that had finally recognized their strengths and had finally got them down on one album. If ever a metal band could be deemed as being charming, then the Scorpions with Klaus Meine’s Germanic yet melancholic voice certainly fitted the bill.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History