I freakin'
luuuuwws that sleeve. So much that it was probably one of the main reasons it unconsciously popped up in my head as an important review-subject (..apart from the music, but we'll get to that later). There's something very compelling about pointy, geometrical logos taking up the major part of the album artwork. Add to that the metallic color scheme and I'm sold, bought and suckered into paying stupid cash without even having a proper listen beforehand, because hey, who likes spoilers right?
...But
lets face it, as nice at that sleeve looks, I don't think Swiss traditional Heavy Metal is a major blip on the radars of many collectors, thus I can't say I've
actively searched for this release much and if it weren't for the fact that I stumbled upon it for the equal of, um.. let's say 2 new double vinyl reissues, it would still had been one of those KIT-Metal-Market-window-shopping, damn-this-looks-cool-but-I'll-save-my-€150-for-something-more-familiar type of items.
OK,
let's squeeze in a music-paragraph too for good measure:
This is one solid piece of Euro-Metal vinyl! Heck, I'll even go so far as to proclaim it Underrated. ACCEPT seem to be the most common, practically unavoidable comparison when dealing with old forgotten Euro-gems, and the 'Metal Heart'-force is strong with this one, especially in the excellent, fistpounding title track. We're talking about the more polished (
good polished) Acceptery here mind you, and not the deadpan crud often found among the
GaMa Records stable. "The Price Of Treason" starts off on the same path, while the chorus remind me of UJL or 'Blazon Stone'-era RUNNING WILD - even the song title sound like an old forgotten RW tune. The uptempo "The Prayer" could have been the highlight of the album but they sort of botched it. It has this enticing, chanting quasi-chorus in the first half of the song that made me think of "Anger" by Thor, but they never return to it = bit of a coitus interruptus there - I'm sure you all are familiar with this phenomenon. The rocking "Rotten To The Bone" ain't too remarkable but it wraps things up nicely with another nod to our fave German pirates.
All in all "Roots Of Rock" carries a tight, consistent sound with every song still bringing something uniqe to the table. With zero room for fillers, it presents a perfect example of how the Mini-Album just might be the #1 format for Metal. Besides, any band who can't summarize and represent their sound in 4-5 songs is probably overthinking it and should aim for a different career.
Originally written in German. Translate to:
"Wer hat's erfunden? Die Schweizer!" - Dieser Werbeslogan trifft nur nicht bei der Auswahl des Bandnamens zu, da waren die Kollegen aus Nippon (1988) oder diverse Schurken aus den Staaten (1982 bzw.1987) schon einmal flotter bei der Sache. Die Eidgenossen aber schnitzten noch zur später Stunde einen Knüppel, der weder als Powermetal noch Speedmetal, sondern einfach nur als gemütliche Heavy Rock-Rohkost daherwatschelt. Irgendwie trotzdem angenehm zu konsumieren, da die, schwer an Zeiten um 1980-81 erinnernden Wonnepfropfen, ohne Schmerzen zu verursachen, wie frühe ACCEPT vom Baume fallen, versetzt mit einer Prise SINNER und MANIAC. Bis auf "The Prayer", das im Gegensatz zu den restlichen Dreien recht metalldynamisch aus den Boxen quillt und ein wenig aus der Reihe torkelt, findet man nette, "teutonische" Mitgrölwerkzeuge, die durch Unterstützung eines kraftvoll-hohen Kehlkopfakrobaten und einer prächtig in Szene gesetzten Gitarrenarbeit zünftig so manche Bierorgie unterstützen würden. Nettes Cover, nette Songs, heim zu Papa.
PS: Unter dem Banner "GENOCIDE" wurden noch zwei weitere Werke auf CD veröffentlicht, mittlerweile werkelt die Band unter der Flagge SIDEBURN herum und veröffentlichte jüngst eine CD. Die Band will mit der GENOCIDE-Vergangenheit jedoch nichts mehr zu tun haben, da diese Musikart zu hart gewesen sei!!! (Danke an Stefan Riermaier für die Info)