Quiet Riot - Metal Health. 1983 Pasha (MC). Thrift shop find (Aug). I bought this title on vinyl upon release while still in high school. In those days sometimes you would hear the "right" track and then subsequently go out and buy the LP. That's what happened to me, as they played 'Run for Cover', arguably the best track here. Quiet Riot were a band I saw in the import bins, as their first two albums were very hard to come by - and expensive. So I was predisposed to like them without hearing a note. And obviously disappointment ensued. The album as a whole isn't as bad as I remembered and I enjoyed a +2 listen, which is still two points from even considering keeping. The glam / pop metal side of the band, most known for their cover of 'Cum on Feel the Noize', is most representative of the album at large.
Leash Law - Dogface. 2004 Black Lotus (CD). From the 2016 buy (Aug). Didn't have high hopes for this title and that ended up being true. Average metal with grating vocals and unmemorable riffs. Not a lot of invention either. Average for the style. Going for less than Ray Conniff LPs in the marketplace too... A loser I'm afraid to say.
Scorpions - Savage Amusement. 1988 Harvest (LP). With the Warlock's (Jul). To my ears not really any better or worse than its predecessor Love at First Sting. Pop metal with a handful of big riffs trying to capture the radio market. Good for what it is. It'll sell.
Warlock - Triumph and Agony. 1987 Vertigo (LP). Same sale (Jul). Two points off of the debut. Here Doro's voice is more grating and the tunes are more anthemic and commercial in nature. Gone are the exploratory riffs and amateur curiosity.
*Warlock - Burning the Witches. 1987 Vertigo (1984) (LP). From T&R sale (Jul). Doro's grand entrance on the world metal stage. All these years and I've never heard anything by, or related, to her. Burning the Witches is old fashioned metal with a unique in-a-tunnel metal sound. Doro sounds mostly like Geddy Lee, and one could argue that Warlock at this stage sound like a metalized Rush. It's not very progressive but the riffs and songwriting are excellent if not amateurish. No chance I would have liked this album when it came out, as it was looking backwards and was miles from the progression Metallica was bringing to the surface. Today I think it's great in that nostalgic sort of way. Great vintage metal cover art that today would likely be banned for its negative sexualized depiction of women. Probably Doro herself designed it, but that's the modern idiot for you.
Dream Child - Reaching the Golden Gates. 1998 Metal Blade (CD). Same as Wingdom (Jul). And for most of the CD, same as Wingdom in the music category. Textbook prog metal. But Dream Child are French and they never do anything by the book. So there's quite a few moments of unexpected musical turns. It's not messy enough for me, but it wasn't too far off. I would have kept this only a few years ago.
Wingdom - Reality. 2005 The A Label (CD). Finally getting back to that 2016 metal buy (Jul). There are so many albums like Wingdom's sole output. European power metal with a Dream Theater like delivery minus the acrobatics. From a musical perspective Reality is very accomplished. From an originality standpoint, the Finnish group score a big fat zero. There's not one interesting sequence for the entire 57 minute length. You'd think with close to a full hour at their disposal they could come up with something unique, even if by accident. If I was new to the genre, any one of these albums would make the grade. But that ship sailed in the 90s.
Twisted Sister - You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll. 1983 Atlantic (LP). Same deal as the Keel (Jun). This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it's no classic either. It's mostly dumbo metal, but there's a couple of decent tracks here with thoughtful riffs. They were business opportunists who made a good living doing this kind of metal. Right time, right place.
Keel - The Right to Rock. 1985 A&M (LP). From a local store for a dollar (Jun). Only needed a cleaning. Total mid 80s bonehead metal. Side 2 is much better, but much of it is re-recordings from their debut, which must be better. With tracks like the title song and 'So Many Girls, So Little Time' I think it's safe to assume Keel didn't graduate... elementary school.
At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul. 2002 Earache (CD) (1995). From an antique shop in Hutchinson, Kansas (Oct 2023/Jun). Excellent guitar tone. Deathy screamy vocals. Tracks tend to blend together. Not my thing but good for what it is.
Steve Vai - Passion & Warfare. 1990 Relativity (CD). I had this on vinyl back in the day, and grabbed this CD recently for a buck for the hell of it. For this kind of guitar fronted hard rock / metal, Passion & Warfare is one of the better ones I've heard. Good energy and some fine melodies as well. I'm going +1 but still not enough to keep. From an antique shop in Hutchinson, Kansas (Oct 2023/May).
The Sterling Cooke Force - Force This. 1986 Ransom (LP). Well... this didn't work out at all lol. After enthusiastically going on about the Electric Sun styled debut, Force This sounds like what the band looks like on the back cover. Hair metal. I was hoping the image was a curveball and the guitar tone remained the same as prior. No such luck. Win some, lose the rest. Discogs acquisition (Apr).
Stryper - Soldiers Under Command. 1985 Enigma. White vinyl (LP). Held this one back from the RT collection (2021/Apr). I think he bought it because of the vinyl color. Anyway, famous Christian "white metal" act. Musically not bad at all, very much representing the style of the day. They look like hair metallers but they offer more than that. Still it's nothing unique beyond the lyric content. To be sold.
Stryper - The Yellow and Black Attack! 1986 Enigma. Blue vinyl and round cover (LP). Same deal as above from RT (2021/Apr). And musically very similar. Solid metal for the Christian set.
Motorhead - Another Perfect Day. 1983 Mercury (LP). The last Motorhead album from that collection buy last year (2023/Apr). Moving more towards hard rock, even a bit of commercialism. Not really any better or worse to my ears than some of the earlier Motorhead albums. But I think I have enough, and can let this one go.
---collection revisits
*Suspyre - When Time Fades... 2008 Sensory (CD). I can't seem to let this go. It's like many of my prog metal albums. Exceptionally well played, overly technical, and not very memorable. But this is even more than the usual tech savvy, so I feel like it just needs more time. (Jun)
Confessor - Unraveled. 2005 Season of Mist (CD). Second album by North Carolina based doom metal band Confessor, some 14 years after their debut. Their uniqueness is brought forth by adding a progressive component to their sound. And while it does remain rhythmically interesting, the songs still sound pretty much the same. Same tones, same style. I recall their debut being better. Will need to revisit. (May)
* - Keeping for the collection
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