1280. Various Artists / The Keepers of Jericho: A Tribute to Helloween. 2000. 4/5

‘Another tribute album’ you may well be saying to yourself, or very loudly at your listening device. And that would be a fair comment. Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t end here either. But this was the era for such albums. Many of those artists from the 1980’s had had a rough time in the 1990’s, some losing their way and others just barely holding on. So this was an era where albums began to pop up with bands being able to express their thanks for those 80’s bands that had influenced THEM on their rise to prominence. And in doing so, in many cases, it gave them a lifeline and a way back into the metal music scene. Helloween probably didn’t need that by this time. They had managed to rekindle their fire and were riding the crest of a wave, still putting out albums that kept them at the top of the power metal movement that was still thriving throughout Europe. And in doing so, they had certainly been one of the biggest influencers of that movement. And from the mid-to-late 1990’s there was a plethora of bands of this genre that had begun to break through who all looked up to Helloween as the Godfathers of Power Metal. So no doubt, when this project was being put together, they had a flood of these artists who were ready and willing to participate, and give their own spin on some of Helloween’s classic songs. As it turns out, there were so many bands, and so many songs, that the success of this album actually then perpetuated into a second album. But to start with, let’s take a look at “The Keepers of Jericho – A Tribute to Helloween”.

The album opens with “Guardians” by Rhapsody. Rhapsody, or Rhapsody of Fire as they became known as after this album, are well versed in the power metal genre, and they give this highly underrated song a wonderful kick along both musically and vocally. The original is amazing but to be fair feels as though they are all tripping over themselves to go as fast as they can. Here, Rhapsody sticks perfectly to the tempo they set, and the lyrics are sung without flowing into each other, and they add those wonderful keys and synths to create a perfect rendition of this track. It opens the album in perfect momentum. “I Want Out” by Sonata Arctica follows. This is another great version of a great song. Being so well known, they have stuck to the basics here, unlike what they did on the Scorpions tribute album with their version of “Still Loving You”. This adds their own flavour to the track, but they change very little, and that works in this instance. “A Little Time” by Heavens Gate is another wonderful power metal take on one of the tracks that created the genre. Then we have “Ride the Sky” performed by Metalium. This is a key component of Helloween, one of their greatest, so you couldn’t stuff this up or your career is over. Metalium do not stuff this up. Again, it is a very faithful rendition of the original, with greater emphasis on the double kick and the vocals that hit all the right notes. It still sends shivers down the spine, even though it isn’t Helloween performing it.
“I’m Alive” gets a touch up from Luca Turilli, the guitarist from Rhapsody, but here he gets a crack on his own. I love how they add the power metal orchestral keyboards into the mix, giving this song a depth throughout that really highlights the great parts of this song. Then we have “Judas” by Morifade. This is the first of one of the greatest stand alone tracks ever. How this didn’t make an album is astounding. This version retains the original’s very heavy focus along with vocals that complement it all along. Another great version. Following this is “Eagle Fly Free” from Vision Divine. Now this is another song you can’t mess with too much because of its awesomeness, and they are faithful to this, by sticking true to the guitar/bass/drum heavy start, and throwing in the extra synth parts in through the middle, and with both vocalists contributing throughout it gives it a great character building on the original.
“Savage” by Brainstorm is the second of three amazing non-album tracks of the original version of the band. And this is amazing. The over-the-top tempo with brilliant double kick is just fantastic. They rip in and switch this up to an incredible speed and do so without losing the brilliance of the original. Just magnificent. The version of “Future World” by Labyrinth has similar requirements like “I Want Out”, you don’t want to stray too far from the original due to its popularity. And again, this is done really well. Sticking to the path of the original track and nailing the landing.
“Save Us” by Cydonia gives us the third of the three great non-album tracks, and this is again performed to a state of excellence, retaining all of the energy and pace of the original and emphasising the power metal virtues of the keys and synths to add a modern flavour to the track. A great job done here, even vocally by changing it up in the verses which makes a difference. Then “Victim of Fate” by Squealer offers another version of a song that evens out the speed of the track compared to the original, which gives it its point of difference from the original as well. I love what they do in the middle of the track, keeping more music in the song and more drum work than Helloween’s version. Another great performance.
Then comes “Halloween” by Dark Moor. What do you do when you are tasked with covering an absolute classic of the genre, a thirteen-minute monster that cannot be replicated in the brilliance that the original came with? Well, you turn it into a symphonic metal masterpiece, utilising your female lead vocalist to perfection, and those wonderful elements that make symphonic metal a joy to listen to. This is an amazing version of this already amazing song. You can’t beat the perfection of the original, but as a cover version, a TRIBUTE version of the song, this is just bloody fantastic.
“How Many Tears” by Secret Sphere then closes out the album. Like every other song on this album, in order to create a wonderful tribute, you can’t change too much about the structure and you have to perform the song perfectly. This is another that is almost impossible to recreate to the same standard as the original, and while this version is fine, is does fall short of the standard of the other bands on this tribute album. It just lacks the amazingness of that original track. Well, you can’t have a tribute album that is 100% brilliant can you. This is still a really good version, it really is, especially the middle section of the song. But it just misses the mark in the first third and the final third.

Tribute albums are often things that I have fallen across accidently rather than have been advised of their existence prior to their release and sit anxiously awaiting their arrival. That was certainly the case for this album. It was only after discovering one of the songs on a different platform that I realised that this album was created in the first place. This was back in the ‘file sharing’ days and was the only chance I had to both listen to this album and then own a copy of it.
And I enjoyed this album. Because there is so much passion put in by the bands who create their own vision of the songs it is fun to listen to and sing along with. They are, for the most part, played with a far more ‘power metal’ vibe than the original songs possess, but it emphasises how important Helloween’s early material was to the creation of what power metal became during the 1990’s decade. And all of the songs here come from the first three albums and the original EP, along with the three standalone tracks that accompanied them. So everything you get here is an awesome amazing 5/5 track. No filler, just all freaking killer!
I spent some time looking for a copy of this album on CD, mostly to no success. The odd copy I found was at such an exorbitant price that I refused to pay it. Finally, just four months ago, when looking through Andy Dowling’s Discogs store I found a copy at the far more enjoyable price of $12 and purchased it immediately. And it is this copy that I have been listening to in the Metal Cavern for this review. And it has been glorious. The album sounds amazing. And there are no barriers to me listening to it at any time.
With all tribute albums however, eventually you rediscover that it is the original versions you crave, to go back and listen to the ‘real’ band's albums and remind yourself of how good they still are. And that still rings true with Helloween. It is impossible to out-Helloween Helloween. But as a red-hot attempt at that goes, this is pretty damned good. Indeed, it is a top five of all time tribute album. There is not a bad version of a song on this album, and it comes across as like listening to a Helloween best of album, except the versions have been reviewed and updated. I have never tired of listening to this album, and now that I have my CD copy of it, I have been listening to it even more. I’ve enjoyed every second of listening to this while reviewing this album, and it will continue to get an airing in the Metal Cavern in the future.

1279. Slaughter / Stick It to Ya. 1990. 3.5/5

The eventual formation of the band Slaughter came about from the rise and then disintegration of the band Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Bass guitarist Dana Strum was an original member of that group, playing on their self-titled album. Not long after that recording, lead vocalist Robert Fleishman left the group, and Strum brought in Mark Slaughter to replace him, as he had come to know him from another band he was producing at the time. Both featured on the second Vinnie Vincent Invasion album “All Systems Go”, which had some commercial success. In August 1988 it was announced that the band had disbanded. In an interview with Circus magazine in late 1988, Mark Slaughter stated that the split was amicable, quoted as saying "When we first joined the Invasion, we were told that it would be a group situation, but it gradually changed to the point where we were all sidemen. Vinnie wants to be a guitar hero, we want to be a band." Slaughter also explained that Strum had been fired by Vincent, and Slaughter had the choice to stay, but chose to leave the band and go with Strum.
Dana Strum believed that despite having similar modes of thought, he and Slaughter were "two distinctly different animals". However, their differences worked to their advantage, and after securing a deal (which rumour suggests Vinnie Vincent Invasion's record company, Chrysalis Records, took the $4 million contract away from Vinnie Vincent for exceeding his credit line with the label, and transferred the contract to former members Slaughter and Strum), they wrote songs, often penning lyrics on top of Domino's Pizza boxes at 3 a.m., and held formal auditions for their new band, seeking individuals who shared their "one for all and all for one" philosophy, had no issues with substance abuse, and were "fan oriented". On this front, guitarist Tim Kelly joined after meeting Mark Slaughter at a barbecue, while drummer Blas Elias secured his spot after impressing the two in a videotaped audition and playing live in Los Angeles.
After forming the band in January 1989, all four members lived together in a small apartment working on songs with a drum machine and four-track, and then to a studio to lay down demos. According to Dana Strum, the band's songs were inspired by true-life experiences “either about something that we went through or something we both perceive a lot of people go through but can't get a chance to express for themselves."
With Strum and Slaughter on board to write and produce the album, the band recorded in several studios in May and June of 1989, eventually releasing the album titled “Stick It to Ya” in January of 1990.

There are so many things about this album that seem to line up like the proverbial ducks in a row, that on reflection 35 years after its release makes you realise why it had the popularity it did in certain pockets of the music universe, and why it probably doesn’t in the other places. Because when you listen to the album, you can pick up all the different bands of the era that Slaughter has chosen to represent in their music. And the vocals are the first thing. Mark Slaughter brings that same vocal technique with him that made “All Systems Go” by the Vinnie Vincent Invasion so interesting, the higher pitched range with the sore throat style made famous by Tom Keifer and Joe Elliott. There is a lot of that here. And yet, you also have a song like “She Wants More”, which could have been taken directly from a Motley Crue album, and vocals that almost mimic Vince Neil in his heyday. The opening track of the album “Eye to Eye” travels down a similar yet not precise road, as does the follow up “Burnin’ Bridges”. There is a great attitude about the vocals and music on this track. So the difference in the lead vocals on the tracks on the album is an interesting addition throughout. At times it almost sounds like there are two different vocalists on the album, something that I definitely checked just in case I was about to make a serious blunder in this review. But no, Mark Slaughter is the lead on all tracks here.
Then musically... well, it’s almost a who’s who of the era of hair metal and hard rock. I hear Whitesnake in the music, I hear Motley Crue in the music, I hear Cinderella and Bon Jovi and Def Leppard in the music. All of the bands of that era are represented in the music that Slaughter offer up here on their debut album. “Gave Me Your Heart” could have jumped straight off a Bon Jovi or Motley Crue album
None of this could have been a coincidence or occurred by accident. All of this had to be a coordinated effort to create a sound on the songs and the album as a whole that was directed like this. Having come from the dissolution of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, you would have expected their overall sound to remain similar to that, and it does. But those other aspects throughout the album also become apparent and obvious the more you listen to the album. It sounds like it is designed to bring in the fans of that era and genre of music. And for me it obviously worked, because it is a creation of that era, and all of the band I have mentioned that seemed to be tied up to the makeup of this album are bands that I enjoy.
So, you can read into this what you like, but my intention is not to suggest this album is just trying to reproduce another band’s sound to replicate that success. It is to provide an indication of the sound the band had gone for. And I really enjoy it, for reasons which I guess are obvious. The lyrics aren’t groundbreaking, they won’t imbibe you with a sense of wonderment. It is still 1990, and that time hasn’t changed. Blas Elias on drums does a great job of emphasising the songs throughout. Solid and hard, he keeps the country moving. Tim Kelly on guitar performs admirably alongside Slaughter. The band sounds great overall.
The songs themselves are varied as to the genre they are produced. The soft rock ballad makes its ungainly appearance halfway through the album, with “Fly to the Angels” and “You Are the One” both fitting the bill for those kinds of songs if that is what floats your boat. The best songs hold the energy throughout, including the final track on the album “Loaded Gun” which completes this collection on the right footing.

It is quite possible that I would never have listened to this album if it hadn’t been for my first trip to Bali in July of 1991. It was on that trip that I purchased about a hundred cassette tapes, all for miniscule pricing, as was the way of the world in those years. It gave me the opportunity to get a lot of albums that Imay never have experienced because the price was too high to pay to take a chance on music I was unfamiliar with. At the Bali price of about 50 cents per cassette in 1991, I could take the chance on an album being rubbish. Some of them were. This one... was not. And so I listened to it, and eventually it found its way back into my box of cassettes, and just never resurfaced. Mainly because cassettes were the last form of music I would look for when wanting to listen to an album. And that’s the way it stayed.
Until a couple of months ago, when I began to look into what albums had anniversaries coming up for this next season of my podcast (or in this case, the beginning of a new podcast). And up popped “Stick It to Ya”. And I thought ‘wow... how many years has it been since I listened to this album?’ And one of the reasons I began this music podcasting of mine was to rediscover old albums that I had forgotten about This was most definitely one of those. So, I found it on my streaming service and played it... and I was immediately entranced. Not from its absolute awesomeness, and not because I had always thought it was an amazing album. But I did think two things. One, this sounds like a whole lot of bands from that era, all mixed into one album. And two, that I cannot believe that I haven’t listened to this album for so long. So much so that I got on eBay to see if I could find a copy of the album, and did so in five minutes, and bought it on the spot. A few days later it arrived in the mail, and as I compose this episode for you, I have just finished listening to my CD copy again on my stereo in the Metal Cavern. Buying CDs and albums is a much easier process in this day and age. And I have really enjoyed having this album again, and listening to this album again. I have literally never listened to anything from Slaughter apart from this album, and even that was 33 years apart between listens. It has led me to the conclusion that I should seek out more albums and give them a go.
This album won’t change your world, and for those that didn’t live through the era, perhaps it won’t be the novelty that I have found it over the past week. But as an album I have now rediscovered through this process, it again has proven the worth of this podcast to me for my own benefit. Perhaps it has also done this for you. It isn’t going to rate with me as one of the greatest albums ever released, but for the fun it offers me as a fan of the genre and the era it is worth revisiting.
The band made their live debut on May 4, 1990, opening for Kiss on the ‘Hot In The Shade’ Tour in Texas, on the day when this album received a gold record, signifying 500,000 copies sold. “Stick It To Ya” became the band's most commercially successful album thanks to heavy airplay on MTV and was certified Platinum three months later. The album peaked at number 18 and remained on the Billboard 200 album chart for six months. Not bad for a band that only came to pass because Vinnie Vincent couldn’t stick to a budget.

1278. UFO / No Place to Run. 1980. 3/5

Through the 1970’s the band UFO had been on a steady rise in popularity and sales, mainly on the back of their harder edged music predominantly on the back of the lead guitar and writing skills of Michael Schenker. Five albums stretching from 1973 to 1978 had proven to be popular through the UK and Europe and into the United States, and the live album recorded on the tour to promote the “Obsession” album, released under the title “Strangers in the Night”, is an amazing retrospective on those years, showcasing the absolute best that the band had to offer in their best setting.
Tensions had arisen over the previous 18 months however, through the antics of Schenker in particular. It had become a habit of his to leave shows prior to them commencing, or sometimes even in the middle of performances. Lead vocalist Phil Mogg in particular felt the relationship between the two strained, while the rest of the band also felt that it as reaching a point of no return. After a show in Berkeley California on October 29, 1978, Schenker officially quit the band. In a retrospective interview in the Classic Rock magazine, bass guitarist Pete Way recalled, "Obviously we were disappointed. It's not easy to promote an album without a guitarist. We were starting to draw a lot of people and the album was selling. But he'd also disappeared on the Lights Out tour, so nothing surprised us."
In his stead, the band hired Paul Chapman to take Schenker’s place for the remainder of the tour and to be a part of the follow up album. Chapman had briefly been a part of the band, touring as the second guitarist alongside Schenker on the ‘Phenomenon’ tour, before leaving to start his own band Lone Star, who released two albums before breaking up with Chapman’s return to UFO. This would be Chapman’s first time recording with the band.
One of the pieces of the puzzle here that seemed to be a great move for the band was the hiring of George Martin to produce the album. Martin of course is legendary as the producer of The Beatles among dozens of other artists, so this must have been seen as coup for the band as they looked to move forward into a new era. The album was written and recorded in Montserrat and London in late 1979 and was released onto the shelves in January of 1980.

Though I did not hear this album until many years after it had been released, I don’t doubt that I went into it in exactly the same way as fans of the band at the time first listened to it – and that is, they were waiting to hear what this band could produce now that the talisman of the group had left. Because although the singer, drummer, bass guitarist, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist remained the same as the band's recent albums, it was Schenker’s fingers in the writing pool along with his magic on the guitar that fans were wondering whether it could be replaced.
The album opens with Chapman’s instrumental “Alpha Centauri” that segues into “Lettin’ Go”, a song that could certainly be seen to be discussing the departure of their previous lead guitarist. Paul Chapman’s credentials by this time cannot be questioned, and all through the album he shows that he is a very good addition to the band. One of the interesting decisions on this album was to do a cover of a 1953 blues song “Mystery Train”, originally written and performed nu the American blues artist Junior Parker. This version by UFO however is of the more rockabilly cover version that was done of the song by Elvis Presley in 1955, and UFO here do try to mix a bit of their own style into it. I’m not sure who brought this song to the band and said ‘hey, we should put this on the album!’ - I mean, it was most likely Chapman – but for a band of the style and genre they were, it seems a strange choice. The version here is fine but not memorable.
“This Fire Burns Tonight” is classic UFO, especially the vocals from Mogg that fall straight into that groove and honey their way through the track. “Gone in the Night” by contrast almost mimics an Elton John song with vocals that sit in that range that he sings at, the prominent keyboards from Paul Raymond and then the blistering guitar solo that leads out the track from Chapman. The solo is the hardest rocking part of the song, with the rest sitting in that pop AOR style that Elton almost made his own during the 1970’s.
Side two opens with “Young Blood” which really just plods along without much in the way of inspiration. It’s a song that you listen to but find it pretty much goes in one ear and then out the other without gaining a reaction. The title track “No Place to Run” follows and packs a bit more punch with a more engaged vocal performance from Mogg and enjoyable solo break again. “Take it or Leave it” though... well, the song name speaks for itself. You can take it or leave it, and I choose to leave it. It's in a softer style much like “Gone in the Night”, almost a country ballad and one that just chills me to the bone. It’s a stinker. “Money Money” ups the tempo and energy to mid-quantities, while the album concludes with “Anyday”, much more representative track of what UFO generally produces, which reproduces the habit of the album of Chapman soloing until the song fades out rather than having an actual conclusion. I’d have thought once or twice, ok, but every song? That’s a bit of overkill if you ask me.

I first discovered UFO in the first year of my ill-fated university career in 1988, when I was crate digging at my then favourite second hand record store in Wollongong, Illawarra Books and Records. It was there I found a 2LP album titled “The Michael Schenker Anthology”, which had a selection of songs from his days in UFO and his own Michael Schenker Group. It was there I first heard songs such as “Doctor Doctor”, “Natural Thing”, “Only You Can Rock Me” and “Lights Out”, and from there I had to dive deeper. Not long after at the same store I purchased “Strangers in the Night” and I was completely hooked. I eventually got copies of the classic five albums that the band released in the 1970’s, but as for the following albums, well, that took longer to obtain. When I did listen to “No Place to Run”, I had thatear on, where I needed to hear something that was going to convince me that UFO could be the same band with the departure of their previous guitarist. And the guitar solos on this album are admirable. Paul Chapman is an accomplished guitarist, but he is no Michael Schenker. And on this album, that is a problem. Beyond this album it isn’t such a concern, because by then Chapman was the incumbent and Schenker was off doing his own thing that didn’t include UFO. Here he is judged on what came before, and although his soloing is strong and forceful, the lack of any real identifiable riffs in the songs themselves does help to make this a generally uninspired selection of songs. He’s not the only culprit. The lyrics and vocals overall don’t offer the same energy that they have on earlier albums, and the songwriting does feel a little lacklustre.
And that becomes a problem when you look around at what was surrounding it at the time. This album had so much up against it when it was released. It was the start of a new decade, and the music coming with that new decade had an impressive start. How do you come up with an album that can match the offerings released in that same year? The revitalised Black Sabbath with “Heaven and Hell”, their former vocalist Ozzy Osbourne with “Blizzard of Ozz”, Judas Priest and “British Steel”, Motorhead with “Ace of Spades”, and the arrival of Iron Maiden with their self-titled debut album and Def Leppard with theirs titled “On Through the Night”. That’s just a small cross section of the British bands that UFO was up against. And let’s not forget Michael Schenker’s own release, his self-titled “Michael Schenker Group” album. It was a pretty intimidating time for hard rock and heavy metal music.
Suffice to say, “No Place to Run” figuratively had no place to run, and suffers as a result. I have spent two days listening to the album on repeat once again, and have found very little inspirational about it. The band is solid, but the songwriting and songs themselves just don’t cut it. Of the band’s eventual 23 albums, this for me would not rank inside their ten best. Fear not! Better was to come, but as their first effort in the new decade and without their talisman, UFO were found to be well short of the mark here.