Cloven Hoof - Cloven Hoof (1984)

Coming through the scene that was the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Wolverhampton’s Cloven Hoof had largely missed the boat by the time of their 1984 self-titled debut album. While most other bands were back-combing their hair and pouring themselves into spandex, Cloven Hoof were serving-up a menu of powerful old school heavy metal with a lyrical content based in the sword and sorcery of previous bands with a more sinister overtone that early pioneers of black metal, such as Venom, would soon seize upon and take to the next level and beyond: it’s not too much of a leap of imagination to move from Cloven Hoof’s band member stage names of the four elements to Mantas, Cronos and Abaddon adopted by Venom either!

The album opens with the title track which is a basic mid-tempo metal track with somewhat shouted vocals and simplistic riff although later on there is some nice guitar work. Lyrically the track is very much in the ‘heretic’, ‘evil’ end of the genre which is ok but a little one-dimensional, albeit amusing to look back on!

Nightstalker is more of the same with a pounding riff and drum track that buzzes along well and you start to wonder if replacing Biff Byford in Saxon with Cronos from Venom (with a few vocal lessons) would produce Cloven Hoof . . . well, at least I do! Now, I don’t want to appear to knock Cloven Hoof as I’d much rather listen to them than the average pop pap we hear everyday elsewhere and I appreciate that they were a product of their time and were to a point influential, albeit of a direction in metal that I didn’t particularly enjoy, but the whole thing seems a little contrived. However, back to Nightstalker – there is an interesting shift in time signature and riff mid-way through that is totally unexpected and gives an inkling that the band are capable of more than the endless chugging guitar work heard thus far.

March of the Damned opens with a slow bass line and very distant drum thumping accompanied by a twin harmony guitar melody . . . yes melody! Actually, this 2 minute instrumental is quite good – whilst not showing any great flashes of musical dexterity the overall composition and execution is good.

The Gates of Gehenna is up next and is almost Maiden-esque, well very Maiden-esque – that is the Di’Anno era of Maiden I’m referring to here though not the more polished Dickinson variety. This is a more up-tempo track with some wailing vocals and things are looking up, the track features a triplet beat and multiple segments which keep it interesting and again there’s some good twin harmony guitar melodies dropped-in here and there. Mid-way through the track things really get motoring and if you ignore the ‘Lucifer’ references and lyrical content which is banal, this is quite good stuff. The guitar solo is good too with a bit of a shred going on and demonstrating Steve Rounds’ talents to good effect . . . or should that be Fire’s? In all seriousness, if The Gates of Gehenna had been the opening track I’d have been quite excited awaiting the rest of the album, as it is it feels like an oasis in a desert of run of the mill doom-laden metal.

Crack the Whip opens with a pounding chord-based riff and things are shifting AC/DC style, apart from the vocals which are snarled and screamed true metal style and rather let the whole thing down. Interestingly, ‘Water’ left the band after the release of this album which can be seen as a boon to Cloven Hoof to be honest. This could have been a really strong track had it not been for the vocals.

Laying Down the Law starts with a promising riff and some 16th notes on the hi-hat but again the track falls down on the vocals . . . give the Hoof Paul Di’Anno or Rob Halford and you’d have a decent track here. This track even has a hook on the chorus and a great guitar solo and a driving tempo and is one of the more ‘commercial’ of the tracks on this album but still retaining all the power of the band which is a plus.

Return of the Passover is a 9 minute epic opening with some frantic guitar picking on a heavily echoed guitar followed by a heavily echoed bassline over which Fire hits some big metal chords: this could go either way. Fortunately, the drums kick-in and we’re off on a mid-tempo riff again of a triplet format that carries things along well. There’s a tad too much ‘vengeance’, ‘damnation’ and ’soul stealing’ lyrically for my tastes but once again Steve Rounds shines through with some strong guitar work. A half-time mid section provides the backdrop for Rounds to solo before the track descends into doom territory with a chugging rhythm guitar interspersed with a dual harmony guitar melody before returning to the main riff of the track. The track ends with an extended guitar solo and some syncopations of drums, bass and guitar before a crashing chord finale and the album is done!

What to say in summation of Cloven Hoof? This is not a bad album per se and has some very strong moments, largely when vocalist David Potter shuts up! Steve Rounds really shines through on every track and for a band somewhat stranded in the wasteland between the NWOBHM and Hair Metal eras, as were many others, Cloven Hoof stuck to their guns and provided a set of powerful heavy metal tracks with no frills that does have its merits. They are cited as influential now and again and certainly I feel paved the way for the more ‘Satanic’ musings of the black metal bands that were to follow shortly after this album and are worth a listen for that and pure, no-nonsense guitar riffing.

• David ‘Water’ Potter – Vocals
• Steve ‘Fire’ Rounds – Guitar
• Lee ‘Air’ Payne – Bass
• Kevin ‘Earth’ Poutney – Drums

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow - Metal in the 1980s

In the dim and distant past, somewhere between punk and grunge, a strange phenomenon occurred: metal became mainstream, dominating the ‘pop’ charts on both sides of the Atlantic. However, this was not metal as had gone before – although some of the earlier bands tweaked their approach to ride the wave – but a new kind of metal with a new kind of image that saw the genre at the peak of its popularity. So, I hear you ask, what caused this and where did it all go wrong? Well, as a stalwart of the metal scene in the 1980s myself I’ll attempt to provide my perspective on what transpired during the 1980s when, for a fleeting and glorious moment in time, metal took centre stage . . .

Part 1 – The scene at the dawn of the 1980s

I think it fairly un-contentious to say that most scenes are born out of disaffection with the current scene, for whatever reason, and that, as Emile Durkheim once posited: “the solidarity of a in-group is a function of conflict with an out-group”. By this is meant that what bonds people together in a scene, in this case, is the perceived antagonism with another scene . . . we are united by our displeasure with other scenes. This was no more starkly evident during the latter half of the 1970s where our metallic forefathers, and their prog-rock cousins, had taken musicality to the extreme and in so doing had disenfranchised the emerging youth scene. It appeared that the rebellious need in youth was not to be satiated by a 25 minute Keith Emerson Hammond extravaganza or by Jimmy Page bowing his Telecaster for 30+ minutes . . . and I can see their point! The rock scene as it was in the 1970s had, whilst producing some outstanding music and groups, rather begun to implode and crawl up its own a** to the point where it didn’t connect in either subject-matter or musicality with a new generation of youth.

The result, as we all know, emerged in 1976 with the Punk movement in the UK with the Sex Pistols, the Damned and the Clash being at the forefront of a scene that was the embodiment of the disaffected new generation referred to above. In the States too a clutch of bands out of CBGB’s, among a few other notables, were formulating their response to disaffection too but from a personal perspective the UK scene had a real vitriol and almost hatred attached to it of all that had gone before that made it such a revolution culturally.

There were two prongs to the punk attack: image and music. For the former, as with any new movement rebelling against a previous scene, an opposite to what had gone previously was adopted . . . out went long hair and the remnants of hippy-dom clothing and in came crew cuts, skinheads and ripped clothing. Musically, out went virtuosity, ethereal/mythical lyrical subject matter and extended tracks and in came three chords, bad tuning, shouted vocals, politicised lyrics and 2 minute tracks.

Within two short years, the punk revolution was largely a spent force; it’s job done. However, as with any revolution, once the essence against which a group is rebelling is overthrown what is there left to rebel against? Punk had become mainstream popular culture musically but was no longer fresh and ‘dangerous’ but almost establishment! Record companies and many bands jumped on the bandwagon and homogenised the genre which rather saw it fade as quickly as it had arrived by the end of the 1970s.

But what of metal? Well, as a genre hard rock/metal has proven incredibly resilient and adaptable in the face of cultural change and this was also the case here. A lot of young metal musicians it transpired were also embracing of the energy and spirit of the punk movement and sought to combine the better elements of both that and the previous rock scene in the UK from which emerged the New Wave of British Heavy Metal at the close of the 1970s with bands like Iron Maiden, Tank, Motorhead and Saxon providing a new, grittier-edged style of metal based around tight riffs, high energy and no frills images. Almost like punk, the NWOBHM movement came in with a bang and rewrote the rock/metal scene rules but itself was short-lived.

Part II – Image is King

1980, time for another popular scene revolution? Simultaneously with the emergence of NWOBHM was the more mainstream rebellion against the punk ethos – following the tried and tested principles of any revolution of taking the opposites of the scene against which you are rebelling. Image suddenly became of paramount, and impeccable, importance with the emergence of the New Romantic scene: clothes, hairstyle and idyllic lifestyles became key to the new scene embodied by bands such as Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet.

But how was metal to respond to this further marginalisation? The NWOBHM was producing some strong bands musically but in terms of image it was still very much jeans and t-shirt and lyrically the sword and sorcery of the pre-punk scene hadn’t been totally forgotten either so it was a movement that whilst gaining some popularity was most likely to be a sideshow to popular music (which, let’s face it is no bad thing).

The 1980s as a decade is largely remembered as a decade of decadence, of style over substance and where aspirations were towards hedonism and wealth. Whilst many of us never achieved the ideal as it was also a decade of great economic instability with the monetarist policies of the UK leading to mass unemployment for the first half of the decade and the ‘trickle down’ ideology in the US proving no less favouring of the masses, culturally things were reflective of such ideals. Think shoulder pads and bouffant hair in Dallas/Dynasty, Duran Duran’s multi-million pound videos on tropical islands etc . . . Another prime motivator in this whole social shift, at least musically, was the launch of MTV – another triumph of image over substance, whereby suddenly bands had to make videos that would be played and played ad infinitum and stand-up as a visual spectacle on this new medium. Suddenly a video of four scruffy blokes sweating away miming to one of their tracks on a small club stage didn’t quite cut the MTV mustard!

Add all the above ingredients together and stir with a liberal dose of metal and what do you get? Well, in the US you got the Sunset Strip club and band scene emerging in LA! As a revolution within metal itself what emerged was a complete move away from the jeans and t-shirt approach favoured by the NWOBHM, to rebel against traditional metal you’d need to do two things: give a commercial edge to tracks, make them catchy, and make an aesthetically strong image – one that would be the metal equivalent of the ‘pretty boy’ approach taken by the New Romantics . . . but obviously starkly different from theirs too as the metal scene is rebelling against the mainstream too remember?

As we know, what emerged was something of a cross between Dallas and Alice Cooper: big hair, make-up and mini-dresses for the girls with big hair, make-up and spandex for the boys . . . and lots of it! A prime example of this emerging scene would be Motley Crue who embodied everything of the new movement in terms of appearance, music and ideology: the scene was about to explode!

Part III – Conquering the World

So the scene was set, MTV’s 1981 launch saw the channel viewed by a huge audience and had an insatiable thirst for music with a visual impact, the bands of the Strip had just that appeal along with a metal sensibility coupled with all the ideals that were embodiment of the decade at that point: a match made in Heaven! Suddenly, a mainstream medium had picked-up on metal and was feeding it to the World endlessly, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week as the decade grew with record companies, keen to exploit this new medium, signing bands at a rapid rate with Cinderella and Poison, along with Motley Crue, being some of the chief protagonists.

Interestingly, that is only half the story however. The full ‘glam’ scene made a huge impact worldwide but had somewhat fractured the metal scene. Those of us not predisposed to make-up and spandex would have been isolated if it weren’t for the other thread of the genre that largely spruced-up the image of NWOBHM, added a bit of commerciality to its songs, and also lit the blue touch paper and waited for lift-off!

Now largely lumped-in with ‘glam’ to a ‘Hair Metal’ genre by revisionist pop journalists, bands like Dokken, Keel, Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi etc all gained great exposure and popularity during the 1980s but weren’t ‘glam’ and as such largely co-opted those disaffected by the whole ‘glam’ shtick and thus, in total, helping to create a huge metal scene. The new scene’s image conscious approach and commerciality of music also attracted fringe players from mainstream pop, making for a huge audience and huge market – one which the record companies were only too glad to flood with an endless stream of metal bands during the era: Ratt, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, Skid Row, Europe, Whitesnake . . .

Actually, Whitesnake raises an interesting point: if all the new bands that were achieving phenomenal success in the mid-1980s were commercial glam and power rock bands and you were a hangover from the 1970s or early 1980s NWOBHM, what were you to do?

Part IV – Where’s your party invite?

Let’s rewind a little to pre-1983 (Motley Crue’s release of Shout at the Devil). So we have the NWOBHM bands, in the US there are a lot of AOR bands around . . . basically a lighter metal with harmony vocals and strong melody such as Styx, Journey, Kansas, Toto . . . and there are also some hangers-on from the 1970s era such as Rainbow, Whitesnake, Gillan and AC/DC, for example. Was this a change or die moment for existing and traditional metal acts? Well, no, not really . . . more fractures to the metal scene!

It’s fair to say that a reasonable portion of the metal scene wasn’t caught-up in the whole ‘glam’ thing at all . . glam had largely fractured the metal scene and attracted a new audience from both that scene and the more mainstream pop/new wave scenes and made it very big. However, whilst the power-rock bands were also treading a similar furrow, for bands that had existed before the boom, decisions had to be made.

In the words of Manowar (who I would rarely quote) the main decision, as I saw it, was to answer the following question: are you true metal or false metal? Those who answered the former are Group 1, queue-up over there with Motorhead and Iron Maiden, those who answered the latter are Group 2, collect your tin of Hard Rock Hairspray and skin-tight spandex pants and queue-up over there with Whitesnake and Saxon.

Whilst in my head at the time, and a bit now to be honest, Group 2 would have been led to their execution for bandwagon-jumping for commercial purposes and not staying true to their music or fans at that time, as the years have passed I’m willing to let bygones be bygones . . . to a point!

So, the outcome was that many traditional/NWOBHM bands glammed-up and got with the program whilst some stuck to their guns. Fortunately, such was the groundswell of the genre that those of ‘Group 2′ also found great popularity and considerable mainstream success and rode the wave that would, a few short years later, dash many of their glam counterparts, and turncoats, on the rocks.

In summary then, we had Glam, commercial power-rock and the trad/NWOBHM movements existing simultaneously and achieving great popularity and success by the late 1980s which, for someone who hit their teens in that time was an awesome spectacle and one which, I fear, will not be seen again . . . although I hope I’m proved wrong on that score. Good times then, metal was a global musical force, all conquering, but . . .

Part V – Walls come tumbling down

Whilst the going was good, murmurings of unrest had appeared in the ranks. The style over substance element that prevailed at the peak of the scene was as alienating to some within the metal genre as was prog to the pre-punk crowd some years earlier. Bands such as Diamond Head who had emerged in the NWOBHM but become also-rans during the boom period were viewed afresh by some of the new generation entering the metal scene who saw the androgyny and flash image of the current scene as one that had departed way too far from the actual principles of metal and from the music itself and sought to do something about it.

Once again, how do you rebel against something: you take a completely contrary stance right? So an underground movement began that stuck a finger up at the whole image and style of mainstream metal and harked back to the jeans and t-shirt approach of their forefathers but with a twist: the mainstream metal scene had descended into endless pained ballads and commercial ditties so the backlash must surely be play fast and hard with no commercial hooks or catchy choruses? Well, yes it was and bands such as Metallica pioneered such an approach which began to make inroads with what was to be termed thrash or speed metal and attracting all those disaffected with the rather syrupy manner mainstream metal was going with bands like Mr Big and their ilk with slushy, acoustic ballads achieving great chart success but being of little substance, or sincerity – formulaic chart-fodder for the masses.

Whilst Metallica and the growing thrash scene was beginning to attract more and more of an audience away from the mainstream glam scene, yet another scene was pissed at the commerciality and cashing-in approach taken by many of the huge bands of the time. Much as with the emergence of punk, a new scene was developing that really dropped completely all interest in image, as had the thrash scene to a point, but whereas Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer et al were pushing the boundaries of speed and playing to its limits, the bands playing the circuit around Seattle wanted to strip things back to basics with simple chord structures and slow, driving rhythms with lyrics about their disaffection from the mainstream and of how crap life really was for the average youth of the time, not buying-in to the false, albeit aspirational, ideals of the glam scene.

This two-pronged attack from the thrash scene and the emerging grunge scene, as it was coined, hit home at the close of the decade with a new generation of music fan who felt it was speaking to them. As with glam, some bands jumped ship with Pantera, for example, erring on the side of thrash but with many bands just losing their audience and folding seemingly overnight: the bubble had burst!

Part VI – The Aftermath

Just as with the assault on traditional metal some 10 years earlier, some of the originators of the scene toughed it out, such as Motley Crue, and all credit to them for that. Furthermore, bands such as Motorhead, AC/DC etc who had survived the 1980s battering of their brand of metal, emerged relatively unscathed by the whole experience with their credibility in tact whilst those who had jumped-ship, and those who had emerged on the back of Crue et al, such as Poison and Cinderella, fell by the wayside.

Whilst the 1980s was a great decade to be in the metal scene for numerous reasons, things did go too far, way too far. Metal has always had a sense of rebellion about it against the mainstream culture and this has served it well over the years as once a sub-genre becomes mainstream, a new scene emerges to challenge and overthrow it, as has been demonstrated here, which always keeps the scene fresh, exciting and challenging. One of the crucial lessons to be learnt from this tale too is that pretenders will always be found out – each scene has its originators for whom the new scene is borne out of a true desire and ideology and are to be commended and their careers always extend way beyond that of the scene they create. Conversely, on the back of such pioneers always comes a slew of copycat bands and record company protégées who fall by the wayside when the new scene, and market, collapses.

The ‘Hair Metal’ era as it is now termed encompassed several sub-scenes and I enjoyed some of them and, in typical rebellious fashion, rallied against others but with hindsight, one overriding fact remains: for one period in time, metal ruled the World and for that, whatever sub-scene you belonged to, we should view the 1980s as a halcyon time to be a metal fan.

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast (1982)

The Number Of The Beast was a defining moment in the career of NWOBHM band Iron Maiden’s career for a number of reasons: it was the first to feature ex-Samson front man Bruce Dickinson on vocals following the departure of Paul Di’Anno, spawned mainstream chart hit singles – along with the album itself reaching number 1 in the UK and achieving platinum status – and signalled a move away from the punkier approach to their previous two albums to a more polished sound that would launch the band into metal mega-stardom!

The success, both commercially and critically, of The Number Of The Beast is all the more remarkable, and creditable, as it was achieved without recourse to a more AOR-sound – and predated the ‘hair metal’ movement that swept in later in the decade (and was thankfully ignored by Maiden). The album is a heavy metal record with no apologies from start to finish: twin guitars, thundering basslines from Steve Harris, urgent drumming from Clive Burr and screaming vocals from (Air Raid Siren) Dickinson throughout.

Opening with the high-tempo Invaders, the mood is set for the album – Dickinson really wails and the twin guitars of Murray and Smith chug along nicely with some trademark Iron Maiden harmonies and great shredding solos from both axmen. Underpinning the track is Steve Harris’ inventive bass lines and runs with Clive Burr too playing tight and aggressively.

The mood is then slowed for a picked guitar intro overlaid with a solo to the slow-paced Children of the Damned . . . but this is far from a ballad and more reminiscent of Sabbath or Priest and features a powerful chorus with Dickinson evidently keen to make a good impression as the ‘new boy’ by providing some lung-bursting vocals!

The Prisoner opens with a sound clip from the classic Patrick McGoohan series of the same name (”I am not a number, I am a free man”) which is then cut into Clive Burr pounding a mid-tempo rhythm over which are some crashing chords and then things move up several gears to the main riff which is classic Maiden and into the track proper. The chorus of The Prisoner is actually quite catchy but no compromise is given to the power of the track.

Always a good topic for a metal track, 22 Acacia Avenue is a continuation of the ’story’ of prostitute Charlotte the Harlot from the band’s eponymous debut album and is again a real storming track with tempo changes and the well-crafted use of multiple riffs within the same number.

The spoken intro to The Number of the Beast sets an eerie tone which is also then carried into the riff and Dickinson’s semi-whispered vocal. In fact, the riff is the old classic “When the Saints Go Marching In” but given a whole new lease of life here ending the intro section with an unearthly scream from Dickinson. The track went top 20 in the UK when released as a single and the video even made it onto mainstream dross-pop chart program Top Of The Pops, such was its popularity and impact: no mean feat! It also features a good wah-wah solo too and is an all round metal classic with each band member giving it 100%.

Burr’s 16th note hi-hat pattern with bass drum leads into one of the band’s biggest hits, and best-loved numbers. Run To The Hills is a story of the native American Indian (I believe they were called Red Indians in those days) struggles during their conflicts with US settlers and is a fiery, up-tempo track and both musically and lyrically strong. Dickinson again is at lung-tearing intensity and Burr’s furious ‘disco beat’ carries the track along at a break-neck pace. As a single, Run To The Hills reached number 7 in the UK charts and gave the band a huge amount of airplay and publicity, cementing their role as the leading heavy metal band of the time.

Gangland opens with a Bur again pounding and up-tempo beat which is then followed by Dio-era Sabbath-esque Total Eclipse before the melodic tones of another Maiden classic, Hallowed Be Thy Name drift in. A 7-minute epic, Hallowed is the inner thoughts of a man awaiting being hanged – a cheery yarn – with Bruce Dickinson holding some endless powerful notes and the twin-harmony guitar work of Adrian Smith and Dave Murray to the fore. The mid-section guitar work really provides a bridge between the band’s earlier sound and what they were becoming and is a real tour de force.

There’s not really a lot more to say about this album: it’s a classic and was not only a door-opener to mainstream success for the heavy metal genre, but also is cited as a major influence on many bands that were to follow Maiden. It’s a bludgeoning riff-fest from start to finish and sits nicely on the cusp of Maiden’s career between their more aggressive pre-Dickinson sound and their more bloated approach that began to drift in a couple of albums down the line. To hear the band at the peak of their powers, at a time when heavy metal almost became acceptably mainstream without compromise, you simply must hear this album and play it as loudly as possible!

• Bruce Dickinson – Vocals
• Dave Murray – Guitar
• Adrian Smith – Guitar
• Steve Harris – Bass
• Clive Burr – Drums

Saxon - Strong Arm Of The Law (1980)

Strong Arm of the Law was the third album from Barnsley’s finest and, following on the heels of their real breakthrough album Wheels of Steel, proved to be a big hit, reaching number 11 in the mainstream UK charts and attaining Gold status. As the second in a triumvirate of studio albums that would see Saxon at the peak of their popularity – and I would argue quality of material – Strong Arm of the Law had a lot to live-up to and fortunately came up trumps! On their day, Saxon excelled in writing no-frills metal anthems much in the Judas Priest mould of no-messin’ ballsy rock and this album is no exception.

Opening with the frantic Heavy Metal Thunder, the album gets off to a great start with Biff Byford insisting the listener to “fill your hearts with heavy metal thunder”. Whilst all a bit clichéd, especially with the benefit of hindsight, it’s a real kick in the teeth track with buzzing guitars and pounding drums, with Biff putting in all the high pitched wails you’d expect: as ‘traditional’ heavy metal goes, this is a pretty good blueprint!

To Hell and Back Again is up next and is again an up-tempo track with a squealing guitar solo over the intro and carries you along – well it does me anyway – on a tide of powerful chugging rhythm guitar and Biff Byford’s ‘rock archetype’ vocals which ably combine melody with all the wails and gruff moments synonymous with the genre. Another good point about Saxon back in their early days was the guitar work of Graham Oliver who tended to avoid the temptation to ’shred’ – always an urge when soloing over a fast number – in favour of melodic yet powerful solos: something evident throughout this album.

The title track opens with feedback and a shuffling bass which leads into a bluesy rock riff for a strong boogie number. Again, there’s power here but Byford and Oliver inject enough melody to give the track a distinctive edge.

Taking Your Changes is back to up-tempo fare as is 20,000ft – definite head banging material if that’s what you’re after . . . and indeed I was back in the day! The power and intensity doesn’t abate with Hungry Years: although we’re back to a slower shuffle feel, Byford is working at the top of his range and the twin guitar work of Oliver and Quinn motors proceeding along nicely until things pick up tempo once more for Sixth Form Girls.

The real standout track of the album closes the album – definitely saving the best ’til last. Dallas 1PM is the band telling the tale of JFK’s assassination in 1963 and is both an emotional number and a real rocker. Whilst the concept might sound a little trite, lyrically the song works very well and carries you along with the story over a throbbing bassline and riff. One of the highlights is the lengthy guitar solo from Oliver mid-way through the track which demonstrates above all others on the album hi innate ability for melodic soloing and thus carries as much, if not more, emotional weight than Byford’s lyrical delivery.

I have to confess I’d forgotten quite how much I liked this album, and just how good it was, until re-listening to it for this review. Whilst the band went on to make some rather, shall we say, disappointing albums a little later in the career – in part trying to jump on the bandwagon of the ‘hair metal’ commercialism of the late 80s – this album reflects Saxon for what they were, a powerful and melodic heavy metal band – nothing more, nothing less and bless ‘em for it!

• Biff Byford – Vocals
• Graham Oliver – Guitar
• Paul Quinn – Guitar
• Steve Dawson – Bass
• Pete Gill – Drums

Judas Priest - Killing Machine (1979)

At the time of Killing Machine, Judas Priest were going through something of a metamorphosis both in terms of musical style and dress style. Gone was the long hair and hippy styling that adorned front man Rob Halford during their early career along with lengthy plodding rock and in came leather and studs (inspired by Rob Halford’s visit to an ‘adult’ shop) and shorter, more commercial numbers with catchy hook-lines and anthemic choruses.

The move paid dividends with Killing Machine not only achieving chart success in its own right but also spawning three singles of which Take On The World reached a lofty 14 in the UK singles charts: not bad for a self-proclaimed ‘heavy metal’ band from Birmingham!

Indeed, Killing Machine is an archetype ‘heavy metal’ album: if you programmed all the variables of rock music into a computer and asked it to produce a heavy metal album, it would come up with Killing Machine! Grinding riffs, screeching guitar solos and screaming vocals – along with the subject matter of the tracks and their anthemic nature – make for a very enjoyable album if you’re into the heavier end of the 1970s spectrum.

Whilst Priest albums can tend to be pummeling on the ears – and indeed they should be – there is some light and shade on Killing Machine: Rock Forever has a great riff , harmony guitar solo and catchy chorus, Evening Star is a reasonably commercial number (and was released as a single and was one of the first examples of a melodic acoustic guitar intro being used to lead into a heavy number; a trick utilised heavily throughout the 1980s by a myriad of ‘metal’ bands) along with one of Priest’s defining moments, Hell Bent For Leather.

If you like your rock heavy, with no frills or overly melodic pretensions then Killing Machine is an album for your collection from one of the true pioneers of the heavy metal genre.

• Rob Halford – Vocals
• K.K. Downing – Guitars
• Glenn Tipton – Guitars
• Ian Hill – Bass
• Les Binks – Drums

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

Arguably the originators of the ‘Heavy Metal’ genre, Black Sabbath had burnt out on the excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle and riff-meister general Tony Iommi was suffering from severe writer’s block. Fortunately, following a move from LA to a ‘haunted’ castle in Gloucestershire ideas began to flow for their fifth studio album and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was born.

For me, if it only contained the title track I’d consider it a worthy addition to any record collection! Iommi is on top form producing several notable riffs all in one track with Ozzy too at his shrillest best. Just how many bands that one track alone influenced we will never know but there are a hell of a lot of bands out there who owe an awful lot to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Killing Yourself To Live and Spiral Architect are also standout tracks along with the piano-led Who Are You? which I seem to recall was reprised for a ghastly Ozzy and daughter single a few years ago! However, here it is in its purest and best form.

The album has achieved triple platinum status in the UK and platinum in the US and charted at number 4 in the UK on its original release which is no mean feat for an album that heavy and way beyond anything around at that time.

For Sabbath I believe this was their peak and if you feel you really should own at least one Sabbath album (and you should), then Sabbath Bloody Sabbath really should be it!

• Ozzy Osbourne – Vocals
• Tony Iommi – Guitar
• Geezer Butler – Bass
• Bill Ward – Drums

Motorhead - Another Perfect Day (1983)

When ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke left Motorhead following Iron Fist many thought that whoever followed would be on a hiding to nothing . . . and they were right: in stepped ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson for his one and only Motorhead album! Consistently booed and berated by the Motorhead faithful for, amongst other things, having short hair and not being ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke, Robertson departed after the Another Perfect Day tour.

However, much as I loved Bomber, Overkill, Ace Of Spades and Iron Fist, I think Brian Robertson was done a great disservice and actually produced, believe it or not, a melodic Motorhead album that still packed the awesome punch associated with the band but adding some melodic subtleties to the sound too . . . which worked very well and Another Perfect Day is among my top Motorhead albums because of it.

You only have to listen to Dancing On Your Grave, I Got Mine or Shine to hear Robertson stamped across them with melodic riffing – in particular I Got Mine has sections that are akin to Thin Lizzy but with Lemmy’s rasping vocals (he turns in a really good performance on this album) and strummed Rickenbacker underpinning everything it equally sounds like Motorhead: a marriage made in Heaven?

Unfortunately, not only did the fans hate both Robertson and, by and large the album, but so did Lemmy who dropped any references to it from Motorhead’s live set until relatively recently.

In my opinion, and under-rated gem.

• Lemmy – Bass/Vocals
• Brian Robertson – Guitar
• Phil Taylor – Drums