format: LP
year: 1989
country: Malaysia
label: Polydor
#: 839 780-1
info: Promo-only vinyl version. Cassette sleeves glued to a generic white jacket.
style: Heavy Metal
Side A:
Side B:
After a rather amateurish, demo-sounding debut, Malaysians DESIRE really came into form with this sophomore release and as a whole it's a solid Metal album well worth checking out. That is, if the peculiarly christened opening title track won't scare you the hell off with its absolutely pointless rockabilly twang. As for a more proper opening track, we couldn't ask for a better one in the following "Otak Ular", a pounding Power Metal attack of international class. #4 continues to prove the point that Desire has improved a lot in a year. The songwriting and general vibe still have an original streak but they feel more coherent and thought-out and while still a bit crude on occasion, the rhythm section is more together here and doesn't impede on the overall experience.
This album was my personal introduction to the band, and in particular the absolutely crushing steamroller of a song "Benar Tetap Benar" that opens side B had me on a wild chase for an original LP after first listen. This is exotic, proto-doomic Camelback-Metal at its absolute finest and you sort of wish that there'd been even more of this mesmerizing sound present on the album. Luckily there are streaks of this sound in the 2 last Heavyweights present as well. "Angkara Manusia" and "Dinasti Air Mata" comes with great epic openings and intertwines some catchy NWOBHM'ish verses and choruses with more of those pounding, majestic bridges. The latter of the 2 is the one great Joker of the band's entire legacy as it features an absolutely shameless, straight-up Theft of one the greatest Thrash riffs in Metal history, but that's nothing new or shocking as far as this scene is concerned so we might as well enjoy the ride.
Imho the strongest of Desire's 3 albums and well worth an addition to your Asian want list. A final warning/note though: there are fan-made/"reprint" album sleeves of this record in circulation, and while they look really nice (basically the CD edition blown up to 12" format) they are not original, as it originally only came in a white generic jacket with MC covers glued to the front.