May

Out of all the Malaysian HM bands reviewed here at The Corroseum's rare vinyl archive, MAY might be the most commercially successful on the home front, and that in turn has made their 3 first vinyls even more expensive and hard to get than usual, especially for collectors outside SouthEast Asia.

"Dilema" is the everso slightly less Heavy - or at least most diverse on the weight-scale of their early albums, and the hapless melodic Hardrocker opener "Impian" won't impress the majority of fans of 80's Steel. Track #3 is where the action starts and does so with a vengeance! "Keadilan" is 100% unoriginal Fastness-NWOHM and a bloody great Banger at that. In any other world than the twisted Malay music biz it would have been the Perfect Opening Track, but what can you do... The only other noteworthy track on side A would be the token rock'n'roller "Emosi Muda", a bit similar in style and beat to the old Accept-earring "Burning" ..if we're to be extra nice & polite that is.

B-side opener "Gadis Misteri" is the same version as featured on the Juara Juara Rock 3 compilation and as mentioned in that review, it's a bit of an odd mix of melancholic vocals and wanna-be upbeat metalrock. Not a bad tune but the real gems are yet to come. "Haruskah" stand tall as one of the true anthems of the band's career, a fantastic Heavy/Speed/Power-pearl with a fantastic chorus - an Asian Metal mix-tape fave for sure. Equal in Power/semi-SpeedThrash weight is the closing "Trajidi", saving the album from a Medium- to a full Great rating in the process. As eclectic as any HM album from its time and place, the fact that the 3 REAL Metal rippers on this album are of such excellent quality and punch, I'd still rate this album as a fairly safe want list addition, especially if you want to grab all the early, historically important releases of this scene. Overall I'd say the the following "Hakikat" is the one to really keep a looksie for though..