Side A:
Side B:
My only problem with CRYING STEEL's debut is that it's not quite the masterpiece I expected it to be. Their "Thundergods"-offering on the seminal "Heavy Metal Eruption" compilation from 1983 is an absolute pearl. It's one of the songs that makes the album such a classic among early European HM comps and one of the finest pieces of Italian Steel from this era (the 1987 re-recording on their hit'n'miss "On The Prowl" full-length doesn't quite manage to capture the youthful energy of the original).
Add to that the usual markers of Greatness: beautiful b/w/red cover art, neat logo, promising band name, being Italian etc...
So, obviously it doesn't suck. In fact, their particular brand of Heavy Metal is that of early European excellence. There's your fast, catchy & Priest'y opener (basically a lesser "Thundergods"), followed by the mighty, fist-pounding headbanger, followed by ...well, 3 more really good 1st generation HM tunes with good arrangements and strong vocals. What the album lacks is one of those memorable, stand-out gems of Steel that would want you to revisit it more often than maybe once a year, or at the very least to write a longer and more inspired review.