As far as debut albums go, this one was pretty cool. I’m not going to say it was as good as the product that Judas Priest and Maiden were putting out at the time, but I will say some of the better songs trade punches with the above mentioned bands and really put the band on the map as far as the underground metal fans and bands went. While many bands put out half cooked debut albums, the band is still finding their identity but the album itself is very solid. (Probably still more focused than say the first Judas Priest album), but hey, we all gotta start somewhere. With the benefit of hindsight I think the problem was the band didn’t have the big anthemic songs that say their next album Metal on Metal had or sadly many of the bigger bands of the time had. The record, however did make an impact with bands like Metallica, Anthrax, Death etc, citing the band as early influences.
Anyway onto the album itself, which starts off with a great hard rocker School love and follows it up with AC/DC as the second track. This is instantly likeable hard rock with a definite heavier edge than most of the stuff going on at the time. In some ways when you listen to this it’s not clear whether the band wanted to go in a more metal or sleaze direction but like I said this is pretty cool. “At the Apartment” brings to mind some 70’s influences that I’m sure would have had to have been big on the guys like ACDC and DIO.
“Bedroom Games” and “Ooh Baby” both had some pretty gritty riffage but lyrically would have been at home on an early Poison or Kiss record. “Paint it Black” is a cover of the Rolling Stones classic, I have to say the boys did a stellar job of this one. True to the original but with some added grit. This is almost worth the price of admission by itself. Then back to the orginals with “Oh Jane”, “Hot Child” and “Bondage” again sounding like a mix of early Motley Crue or Kiss.
Over all there is some great stuff on this. Some of it has suffered from age a little and the general lack of direction on this album. But it all well played and with great songwriting and for a first album is recorded rather well too. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but the lads did themselves proud on this. This is actually a really good party record.
For more great Heavy Metal album reviews be sure to keep checking back on metalhed.com as often as you can!