Long
have I wondered why this epic Metal gem have been so ignored by fans and
collectors, and lately I've come to a rather cynical conclusion: While
the album is no rarity to speak of, the average Metal fan/buyer might
not run into it too often to take notice, and the "serious collectors"
might just find it too common to take serious. It's one of those pieces
that keep falling between the cracks. You occasionally see it on fairs
and lists, often a cutout and/or still sealed, usually with no specific
comments from the seller, which isn't surprising considering the very
sparse info on the sleeve. It's about time someone gives this record the
attention and praise it deserves! And who else to do it but Mighty Metalprofessor
Me? Right then...
This album is just chock-full of amazing Metal SONGS (remember "songs"?
that most essential ingredient in any Metal-record, before flashy fantasy-covers,
slick production and good looks became more important), like "Sword
Of Zeus" for instance. Superb vocal harmonies, great original riffing
and a very intense, wailing chorus. 4 minutes of sheer beauty. Just about
every song is built upon the 3 most fundamental parts of Classic Metal
songwriting: heavy riffing, vocal melodies and guitar harmonies. And how
rare is it not to hear a slower, melodic Metal-piece with keyboards that
doesn't suck cock in schmallad-hell? "The Sorcerer" is just
soaring with power, intensity and soul. The organ and the solo-guitar
carries the song beautifully from start to finish and the chorus really
makes you wanna do some nifty warrior-poses in the moonlight, with your
little brother's plastic sword in one hand and a mug of hot chocolate
in the other ...And on it goes: "The Dungeon" - aaarrrgh! more
killer riffing! "In the arms of Morpheus" - aaah, another awesome,
mysterious chorus! "Clone of the Wolf" - Shit! Almost Thrash-velocity
on this one... What? The end? Already!?! Damn... To stay in the same mood
and keep those ethereal vibrations on more or less the same wavelength,
Swami recommends you follow this album with some SACRED BLADE, a bit of
BROCAS HELM and perhaps even a few seconds of the mighty US COVEN and
their "
Worship New Gods".
Who cares if it has the strangest vocal-effect EVER on a record, if the
drums are the nastiest kind of digital/triggered crap, if the guitars
sound like C-3PO burping and the overall production is just weird, Weird,
WEIRD! It is still a great album, and that says alot considering the circumstances.
I could be wrong (now there's a first..;-), but this album has "studio-project"
written all over it. Perhaps even a one-man project, considering the corny
"artist-names", the fair level of originality and it's "one-man's-madness"
vibe. Corrections are more than welcome. It is however a fact that the
Grudge label were one of the most notorious Metalploitation-labels in
the US (ORIGINAL SIN, CONVICT and CRACK THE SKY are other suspects), but
this time they hit it right.