577. Iron Savior / Iron Savior. 1997. 3.5/5

When you set yourself up to write a story, it needs to be one that is engaging, even if it is only the basis of a music album. Given that it is also the first album you put out as a band, it would want to be a little higher on the scale, otherwise it will be picked to pieces. Iron Savior probably didn’t have a lot to lose, but maybe just a point to prove. Given those who were involved in the infancy of the band, those of us who bought the album when it first came out expected a great deal.

It starts off with the right credentials for a power metal album. The songs are driven by Thomas Stauch’s double kick and the twin guitars of Sielck and Hansen. Piet Sielck’s vocals are adequate – perhaps a little rough around the edges, but for the most part are good enough to get away with. “Atlantis Falling”, “Brave New World”, “Iron Savior” and “Riding on Fire” are all good mood songs, with “Riding on Fire” a particular favourite of mine.
The middle of the album seems to get tied down with emulating a stereo-typical power metal album, by throwing in the slow power ballad-ish type song. All this does is interrupt the flow of the album, thus either sending the listener to sleep, or encouraging them to skip the song(s) or turn it off. As can be seen from my other reviews of such albums, this is a common complaint of mine, and to my ears at least tends to bring an album down.
The glittering diamond of this album is that Gamma Ray’s Kai Hansen, one of Sielck’s best friends plays, sings and must surely have been more involved in the writing than has ever been actually said. Kai’s song “Watcher in the Sky”, the only song he performs lead vocals on, featured on the Gamma Ray album Somewhere Out in Space as a precursor to this album being released. This no doubt served two purposes – one, it is Kai’s song, and he wanted it to still be a part of his band, and two, to funnel the Gamma Ray fan base toward buying this album and experiencing what it had to offer. Though I may be biased, “Watcher in the Sky” is the best song on the album. Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian also lends his vocal support on the song “For the World” which follows, and it is these two songs that bring the album back up a notch at the end, which comes with the Nazareth cover “This Flight Tonight”.

This is a more than respectable debut album, with all its flaws and highlights. Better was to come down the road, when the band had ironed out the kinks and discovered the sound it really wanted.

576. Iron Maiden / Iron Maiden. 1980. 5/5

Thirty years ago today (April 14) Iron Maiden’s eponymous album was released, and the world hasn’t been the same since. There is no doubt that this band is one of the major influences of the heavy metal genre, and this release was the beginning of a tide of greatness.

Though many of those both in the band and around the band have decried the production on this album, and suggested that it eventually harms the way that they view (metaphorically) this release, in many ways it is the production that allows it to retain its charm and greatness. Certainly the album is tied to the era because of its sound, but that just makes the actual songs and music even more powerful, because it is so easy to hear how far ahead of their contemporaries they actually were by the riffs and rolls that they played. Sure, better production may have increased that, but the reality is that everything here still holds up against everything in the past thirty years, and that this album is still unique as it is.

“Prowler” was a hit in London pubs for a year before this album actually came out, having been a part of the original demo that had been pushed by people like Neal Kay, and had also appeared on the bands self-published The Soundhouse Tapes. It immediately puts forward Maiden’s main strengths – the twin guitars, one playing the rhythm and the other putting out a lead track, the solid drum beat that holds them together, the bass line that was just a little out of the ordinary for a typical rock band, and the vocals that were not classical, not punk, but a very complementary fusing of the two. In particular, Steve Harris’ bass line and Dave Murray’s lead guitaring are immediately at the forefront.
The band’s versatility then becomes obvious with “Remember Tomorrow”, a slow and gentle bass line with Di’anno’s vocals over the top, which then explodes into the heavy guitar riff of the first ‘chorus’ break. Then duplicate, into the dual lead break, before finishing on a high. Try and convince me Metallica didn’t have this song in mind when they wrote “Fade to Black”. This kind of change in song orientation was to become one of the hallmarks of Iron Maiden.
“Running Free” is the pub anthem that became the stadium anthem. Another head banging-type of bass line from Harris, followed by the ‘boy on the town’ lyrics and catchy sing-along chorus makes it a natural for the pub environment.
Then came the song that no one was doing, because it was just so far in advance of what heavy metal was that Iron Maiden were still inventing it. “Phantom of the Opera” is a quintessential classic, a song that had no right to have been written or recorded at that time. Steve Harris wrote a bass line that began matching twin guitar riffs, played it like a guitar, but with his fingers on a bass guitar. One of his most extraordinary efforts. Along with Clive Burr’s superb drumming that almost began matching the guitars in the same way, and with lyrics that began a tradition in the band, written about movies and books, this song is one of the most complete heavy metal songs ever written, and it was one of this band’s first released. Most would consider this to be one of the top ten Maiden songs. I certainly do.
This is followed up by the pacey instrumental “Transylvania”, which again showcases the wonderful way this band plays together. It flows almost unnoticed into the very underrated “Strange World”. In the same way that “Remember Tomorrow” does, “Strange World” shows that a heavy metal band can write and perform a song which may be slower and/or less heavy, but that does not compromise their principles. This is a triumph, highlighted again by Steve Harris’ bass line that wanders up and down throughout.
Speed returns with the first of the “Charlotte the Harlot” episodes, surprisingly entitled “Charlotte the Harlot”. Some people have said to me that they consider this song ‘childish’. Well, boo-hoo to you. All I can say is that every time it comes on, I can’t help but sing it out loud, arm raised in a Di’anno fist pump each time “Charlotte the Harlot” is sung during the chorus, and raising the Di’anno middle finger to the line “Let me see love!” It’s still catchy, and still great to sing along to.
The album concludes with the self-titled track, one the band must have now played a billion times, and is another that any Maiden fan can’t help singing along to. But maybe (just maybe) they could give it a rest live and play something else.

Thirty years is an amazing length of time, not only to find that an album can still stand up, and to realise what the band has done since then, but to then realise what you as an individual has done in that time, and how long this album has been a part of your life.

Thirty years later, and this album is still awesome, and one you can still draw inspiration from.

575. Scorpions / Sting in the Tail. 2010. 3/5

There has probably been more publicity surrounding the fact that this album apparently signals the final act for the Scorpions as a band than anything else, and perhaps it is this smoke screen that is being used to hide the fact that it has some failings.
The announcement that this would be the band’s final album, hoping to ‘retire’ while still at the top of their game, certainly drew some interest from me. However, I was more interested to see how they would follow up their finest album in almost 30 years, 2007’s Humanity: Hour 1.

Following on from the breaking of the Scorpions mould on their last album, this is a follow up that plays it straight down the line in order to try and keep all their fans of all genres happy, and in the process really not making anyone excited. The opening songs prove to be very much in the role of their typical nineties stuff, in a hard rock mode but without the great anthems that they flooded us with during the 1980's. "Raised on Rock", "Sting in the Tail", "No Limit" and "Rock Zone" leave you in no doubt that the band is trying to reinvest their past sound into their current music. There are also the typical Scorpions power ballads, which, I must say, don't quite hit the mark this time around.
In fact, the whole album is just off the track, and in trying to tie down what it is that just doesn't make it for me, I can come to a couple of conclusions - it is a very generic album, and it’s obvious that the band has played it very safe in the writing process. Being their final release, they have obviously gone out and tried to capture both lyrically and musically the best and most successful of their past, and recreate it here as a fitting finale for themselves and their fans. Though I hesitate to use the word, some of it is quite boring because of that, and in essence brings to the table the kind of emotion they were inevitably trying to prevent.
It's not a bad album, but it won't be memorable for the music, but only because (at this point) it will be their final release.

If they had announced that they were calling it a day after Humanity: Hour 1 I would have kicked up a stink, suggesting that they still had plenty left in the tank. Having now listened to Sting in the Tail a dozen times, I can honestly suggest that the band gets out and does a farewell World Tour – including coming to Australia, because we've only been waiting 30+ years – and then take a well earned rest, because maybe the bottom of the well is in sight.

574. Motörhead / Iron Fist. 1982. 3.5/5

It had been a heady five years for Motörhead by the time 1982 rolled around. Four excellent studio albums, each which had grown their fan base with their release, followed by a live album that showcased just what they brought to the stage when they were out on the road. Sometimes it would be easy to rest on your laurels, but the band still had plenty in reserve. Following up two albums such as Ace of Spades and No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith would have been a daunting task for many bands, but Motörhead just take it in their stride and pound out another release full of the songs that make them who they are.

From the beginning of Iron Fist it is undeniably a Motörhead album. The signature “NENG-A-NENG-ANENG, NENG-A-NENG-ANENG” of Lemmy’s bass rifles through the songs, along with the voice of a man who must have sandpaper on his vocal chords – unique and unreproducible. The guitaring and drumming from Motörhead alumni ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and ‘Philthy’ Phil Taylor is also at its best here. The musicianship of the album is top shelf and once again the production brings out the best in the songs. The difference between the early recording of their debut album and now is actually quite astonishing. Whereas it was punky and distorted on those first recordings, the tracks here are really quite polished but lose none of their power and aggression.
There are songs on this album that for me are as good as anything that Motörhead has written, but there are also a couple of songs that if they aren’t considered as filler material then they are just not very good. The opening title track of “Iron Fist” is a perfect start, strong in music base and lyrically. “Heart of Stone” continues in the same vein with Taylor’s fast paced 2/4 drumming and a great riff from Clarke driving the song. The tongue-in-cheek “I’m the Doctor” still sounds great, and while I like “Go to Hell” it is a bit generic and repetitive musically. “Loser” is much the same, while “Sex & Outrage” and “America” contribute to this middle part of the album which does noticeably affect the flow of the album.
Still, it picks up from here, as “Shut it Down” and “Speedfreak” are just sensational, played at a speed that I believe produces the best material that Motörhead plays. This is followed by the hard fighting “(Don't Let 'em) Grind You Down” and “(Don't Need) Religion” which leave nothing to the imagination. “Bang to Rights” is the perfect closing track to the album, continuing the vibe of the second half of the album with power and pace to the very end.

Iron Fist continues to be one of my favourite Motörhead albums. Though it may not get the accolades of some of their other releases, this still has the ingredients and the personnel to make it stand up against other releases. This was the final album that these three played on together as Motorhead, with Fast Eddie Clarke moving on during the tour following its release. I still fail to see or hear why the band was so disappointed in this album. There are certainly a couple of tracks that could have either been reworked or dropped altogether, but the great moments generally outweigh these dead patches.

Rating: “Words are cheap and talk is free”. 3.5/5

573. Tony Iommi / Iommi. 2000. 3.5/5

As we entered into the new millenium, it was becoming more and more obvious that Black Sabbath as a real and functioning band was finished. Ozzy didn't look as though he wanted to do new material with the original line-up, and the Tony Martin-fronted line-up had also probably gone its distance as well.
What, then, was to become of the brilliant and genre-defining guitarist Tony Iommi? Back in 1984 when he tried to put together a solo album, it got tagged as a Black Sabbath release. Could he do something again, this time just as his own project? As it turned out, he could, although it would take a few years of prepping and recording, and a lot of guests to help out.

Here then is Iommi, an album written by Tony and co-written and co-guesting different vocalists on each track. As a result, it feels and sounds more like a 'collection' than an 'album', as there is not a lot of cohesion between tracks. That doesn't make it a bad album as such, but if there are vocalists that you don't like involved (there are) then it makes it difficult to enjoy the songs that they are involved in (it does).
Probably what also hinders the concept is that a lot of the riffs sound like they have been recycled from those more recent Black Sabbath albums, and to be fair a lot of those songs just don't rate highly. It wouldn't be fair to say that Iommi has run out of riffs, but they just don't seem to come so good as frequently as they used to.
The favourites for me on the album include Henry Rollins on "Laughing Man (In The Devil Mask)", Dave Grohl with Brian May on "Goodbye Lament" and Billy Corgan on "Black Oblivion", though it does stretch on a little too long. The songs with high profile vocalists, such as "Time Is Mine" with Phil Anselmo, "Who's Fooling Who" with Ozzy and "Into The Night" with Billy Idol, just don't live up to the hype, and perhaps suffer a little because of it.

Again, as I said, as a collective of songs based around the centrepiece of Tony Iommi's guitaring, it isn't a bad effort. Those looking for a post-Sabbath future, like myself, were left to further ponder what it may hold beyond this.

572. Ratt / Invasion of Your Privacy. 1985. 4/5

For me, this is one of those albums that will always be shrouded in the memories it brings back to me every time I play it. On a 90 minute cassette I had this recorded on one side, and Motley Crue's Shout At The Devil on the other, and throughout the end of high school in 1986 and 1987 this copped a caning. So the good memories alone create a high standing for this album.

Ratt's second album is a winner in most respects. In my opinion it has no weak moments. Every song backs up the other, linking together as one to make a terrific album. I guess the three singles released from the album - the opener "You're In Love", "Lay It Down" and "What You Give Is What You Get" - are the songs that many people speak of as the best, and they have a solid point. However, to me they are no better than "Never Use Love", "Give It All", "Closer To My Heart" or "You Should Know By Now", just for instance sake. While there is a similar theme running throughout the album both lyrically and musically, it doesn't impede on the enjoyment of songs on a singular listening level. Unlike some albums where there is such similarity, I don't have any problems being able to pick out the songs when they are played. That, of course, may well be just because I know the album so well.

Stephen Pearcy's vocals are at their best here, while the twin guitars of Robbin Crosby and Warren De Martini are just awesome.

Overall, this is one of the best ever albums of the hair metal genre, and for me it is definitely Ratt's best release. And whenever I hear it it still takes me back to driving in my 1970 two door Valiant, charging around the streets with this in the cassette deck.

571. Faith No More / Introduce Yourself. 1987. 3.5/5

Probably a better effort song-wise, and certainly better production-wise than their first album, Introduce Yourself is still a much maligned album in the history of Faith No More which is probably unfortunate.

Whether you love Chuck Mosely, or you hate him, the fact remains that the rest of the band was the core of the music, and their musicianship is second-to-none. The one man who stands up again here is Jim Martin, who guitaring was possibly the forefront of the band until the scene-stealing Mike Patton showed up for the next release.
There are some great songs here though. Leading the way are "Anne's Song", "The Crab Song" and the anthemic "Introduce Yourself", which is probably my favourite song on the album. One can only imagine just how 'popular' this song may have become to the masses if it wasn't for the updated and remodelled version of "We Care a Lot" that accompanies it here. For the masses it was this song that ended up becoming the crowd favourite at live performances, though for me "Introduce Yourself" could have been that song too.

Though somewhat buried by the mega-success the band experienced with their next album, Introduce Yourself deserves respect for paving the way for that eventual success.

570. Stratovarius / Intermission. 2001. 3/5

Intermission this most certainly is, with a bundle of tracks that only a hardy few could proclaim to have experienced a majority of before this release came along.

The first four songs are all "previously unreleased tracks", and surprisingly for these type of tracks they are pretty good. I say surprisingly, because if they haven't been released before, then there must have been a reason why in the first place. In this instance, the first two songs "Will My Soul Ever Rest in Peace?" and "Falling Into Fantasy" are both fine examples of Stratovarius titles. Perhaps the other two are not in the finest catagory.

Following this are three cover songs. Judas Priest's "Bloodstone", is okay, but really lacks the original's power. Rainbow's "Kill the King", again just doesn't have the same quality of the original. I originally heard this on the tribute album Holy Dio: A Tribute to the Voice of Metal: Ronnie James Dio, which strangely has two versions of this song on it - the one by Stratovarius and the one by Primal Fear. Sadly for the Strats, Primal Fear's version craps all over this one. Thirdly is another Rainbow song, a live version of "I Surrender", which is a much better effort than the previous two songs here.

Following this is a bunch of extra songs from singles and box sets and the like, the majority from Japanese editions which always seem to carry these types of songs to entice their citizens to buy their own editions rather than those from overseas. The quality of tracks is a mixture.

Overall, this is worth a listen. Whether you will come back to it often is open to question, but as a rarity of sorts it is something a fan of the band will want to possess a copy of.