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As requested by MercyfulUngol:

SOUND BARRIER - Speed Of Light (1986) USA
Metal Blade Records 72114



01. Speed Of Light
02. Gladiator
03. On The Level (Head Banger)
04. What Price Glory?
05. Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)
06. Fight For Life!
07. Aim For The Top
08. Hard As A Rock
09. On To The Next Adventure

Bernie K. - Vocals (TOTAL ECLIPSE, MASI)
Spacey T. - Guitar (COLOUR, SPACEY T'S LIBERTY, MOTHER'S FINEST, FISHBONE)
Victor Johnson - Guitar (BUSBOYS, TOTAL ECLIPSE, SAMMY HAGAR & THE WABORITAS)
Emil Lech Brando - Bass (TERRIFF, DRIVER, JOSHUA)
Dave Brown - drums (COLOUR, TOTAL ECLIPSE, MASI)

The all black SOUND BARRIER evolved from the demise of the R&B oriented, seven-piece COLOUR in 1979. COLOUR had steadily become more Rock oriented thanks to the recruitment of New Jersey born guitarist Spacey T. However, alongside COLOUR drummer Dave Brown, Spacey formed the Metal band he had always longed for in SOUND BARRIER. The first line-up of the group included bassist Keith Roster in a group that, initially, went for more of a Progressive feel until Roster departed and was replaced with Stanley E., rounding out a line-up fronted by vocalist Bernie K.
SOUND BARRIER cut a four track demo with producer Neftali Santiago, which landed them a deal with MCA Records.
Despite laudable press for the debut album, 1983's 'Total Control', and valuable support slots to no less than VAN HALEN, sales were not forthcoming and SOUND BARRIER was duly dropped by MCA. Undaunted, retained they kept the momentum going with the independent mini LP "Born To Rock" on Pitbull Records which contained a cover of STEPPENWOLF's "Born To Be Wild".
The band was picked up by Metal Blade for their third release "Speed Of Light", by which time Stanley E., had been succeeded by ex-TERRIF bassist Emil Lech Brando. The album included a cover of THIN LIZZY's "Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)".
The band fell apart once Italian six string hotshot ALEX MASI got into the band and set about taking control leaving the remaining original members no option but to quit the SOUND BARRIER ship. Soon enough the band evolved into MASI. Both Dave Brown and Bernie K. appeared on the 1987 debut MASI release 'Fire In The Rain'.
After a period in late 1986 working with BLACK SHEEP bassist Willie Basse in SPACEY T'S LIBERTY, original SOUND BARRIER guitarist Spacey T briefly joined MOTHER'S FINEST in the early 90's on their initial European touring stint in support of the 'Black Radio Won't Play This Record' album. However, he had been replaced by a keyboard player by the time they returned.
Lech turned up in JOSHUA whilst Brown formed TOTAL ECLIPSE with ex-BUSBOYS guitarist Victor Johnson, who had guested on the 'Speed Of Light' album. By 1998 Johnson was a member of SAMMY HAGAR's touring band THE WABORITAS. Spacey T. joined FISHBONE.
no pw



ctme

Nice one kit! Always enjoyed this album, although I never did get around to checking out the band's other material.

Thanks, this was great!

nightsblood wrote:Nice one kit! Always enjoyed this album, although I never did get around to checking out the band's other material.

Keep an eye on the blog, i'll be posting the entire Sound Barrier discog over the next month or so.

bigfootkit wrote:

nightsblood wrote:Nice one kit! Always enjoyed this album, although I never did get around to checking out the band's other material.

Keep an eye on the blog, i'll be posting the entire Sound Barrier discog over the next month or so.

sweet!

Hey, thanks again bigfootkit! I really appreciate it! This album rules!

Thangyew!

Cheers for making me put this on for the first time in ages. Much, much better than I remembered it - at best they sound like a more melodic OMEN!

Funny, I picked up all their albums years ago mainly because I had this idea about collecting all "Black" Metal vinyls from the 80's, something that proved a little too easy. I think it was the lackluster "Total Control" that kept me from really giving the other albums a proper chance back then.

Do NOT miss out on the "Born To Rock" MLP once bigfootkit adds it to his blog - it's their finest moment and "Raging Heart" is a fucking masterpiece. Their "born to be wild"-cover is probably the worst version I've ever heard though.

love that pic on the inner sleeve of "Born to Rock"!
thanks for this bigfootkit, the only SB stuff I'd heard was "born to rock".

Nice to see this go down so well with you all, i didn't think the band were all that fondly remembered, so it's nice to see that i was wrong there.
I also have to agree with you dAn, their version of "Born To Be Wild", is easily the worst one ever recorded.
I'd previously thought the song was impossible to fuck up, oh boy, was i wrong!
I wonder how many bands have covered that song?
Off the top of my head i can recall Slayer, Zodiac Mindwarp, The Cult, Rose Tattoo and S.B., but there must be hundreds of versions.

not to get too off track but this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aWZZonr1A
must be the worst cover of this song....

jman wrote:not to get too off track but this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aWZZonr1A
must be the worst cover of this song....

What is worse?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45HzHJ8MozY

I just found the, "Born To Rock" EP at Rhino records, signed by the band.

this record is great, gotta search this out now.

Mercyful=yeah I think you are right, compared to Slayer, SB and Ozzy+Ms. Piggy are downright classy.

bigfootkit wrote:I wonder how many bands have covered that song?
Off the top of my head i can recall Slayer, Zodiac Mindwarp, The Cult, Rose Tattoo and S.B., but there must be hundreds of versions.

Lizzy Borden.

Riot

Thanks for sharing, I hope I get a chance to listen to it today.