Krokus-Headhunter-Review

   Perhaps the band's most well-known album outside of their native Switzerland, Headhunter is seen by many as the Swiss band's magnum opus. Is this a fair statement? Is Headhunter really that good? Read on my fellow metal manics.

The album opens with the very NWOBHM-like title-track. "Headhunter" sounds like a mix of the Scorpions and Accept, which could also be used to describe the sound of much of the band's early 1980s output. The song is a little cliche and tacky, but is more than enjoyable. A nice gallop thunders the song along, with Fernando von Arb providing some very nice and over-the-top lead guitar. The rhythm guitars sound a little cheap and thin, but the leads beef out the song. A pretty good track, but somewhat cliche. "Eat the Rich" is less 80s-sounding, a much more classic-rock sounding song. The band's AC/DC influence shows here, and the song bears more than a passing similarities to the Aussie rock gods. Nevertheless, the song is pretty damn catchy, with especially solid drumming from Steve Pace, as well as a cool little bass solo from Chris von Rohr. Totally a rip on AC/DC, but Krokus pulls it off more like a homage, rather than outright pilferage.

"Screaming in the Night" was a huge hit for the band, especially in America. A power-ballad of sorts, the song combines a cheesy horror-lite theme with equally sappy lyrics about longing and lusting for a woman. I feel like the Scorpions do this kind of thing much better, and I prefer Krokus' heavy and fast rockers.Not a terrible song, but far too long for me, and dated with digital sounding drums that kick in at times. The solos and leads are nice, and Marc Storace's vocals are more than adequate, but never got into this song. "Ready to Burn" brings us back into the land of the living. Another AC/DC-like song, Marc Storace summons his best Bon Scott impression again. I like the swagger of the song, but the lyrics are very repetitive (even for 1980s metal) and the song feels trapped in a state of purgatory between NWOBHM metal and the classic sounds of 1970s rock. That's the problem really with Krokus, they had one foot always in the 1970s, and unlike Judas Priest, were somewhat unable to fully adapt to the musical landscape of the 1980s.

"Night Wolf" is obviously the song with the coolest title on the album. Much more 1980s in terms of sound and composition, the song is quite fast and reminds of Judas Priest and Accept. The chorus is laughable in terms of lyrics, but the song contains all of the features one must look for in vintage metal. My favorite track on the album, I love the speed of the track, the screeching vocals, and the solid drumming. I just wish the guitars were a little heavier, but Krokus always held back their guitar sound a little in my opinion. "Stayed Awake All Night" feels a bit too "jammy" for me, very 1970s-sounding. The simplistic riff doesn't really work for me, and the song features an annoying section with just a sparse drum-beat, synth washes, and spoken dialogue/screaming. The section seems to go on forever before the riff comes back in, ughhh. Not a fan of this track.

"Stand and Be Counted" is another song that sounds like a 1970s transplant. With layers of 1980s-production applied by knob-wizard Tom Allom, the song sounds very dated given the time of its release. The song reminds me of Free/Bad Company, but lacks all of the blues-swagger that made those bands so great. The lyrics are so corny they would make even Twisted Sister cringe. The song is somewhat decent, but even the solos feel tacky and fail to impress. "White Din" is a strange and short instrumental, just some guitar arpeggios with some leads over them. Kind of cool sounding, but nothing more than a short curiosity. "Russian Winter" closes the album. I can hear the influence of Accept all over this track, but Accept themselves were obviously influenced by Krokus, so it's really a case of who made who. The lyrics are so laughable they could be off a Survivor record, but it's not a band track, it has a great solo, a solid drum beat, and it fills enough of the nostalgia voice given the cheese factor it produces. One of the better tracks.

Headhunter is not a great album in my opinion. I prefer the band's late 1970s output personally. However, if you can find a copy for cheap (I'm sure you can), there are a few tracks to make it worth a purchase.

Rating: 6/10

UFO-Phenomenon Review

    

      Released in 1974, Phenomenon is UFO's third studio album. Generally regarded as their first commercially appealing album, most listeners of the band would naturally avoid (but don't!) the late-psych of their first two albums and start here. I recently acquired a vinyl copy of the album, so let's take a look at this hard rock classic.

     "Too Young To Know" is a fairly standard hard-rock tune. Singer Phil Mogg delivers a Bad Company-like lyric about obviously "teaching" young girls the meaning of rock and roll, I'm sure you know what that entails. Bassist Pete Way sounds great on the track, delivering a great and rubbery bass-line, obviously a very under-rated bass player. But the highlight of the track is clearly the addition of Michael Schenker in UFO. Schenker delivers some great leads on the track. A decent song, but a tad slow. "Crystal Light" does little to pick up the pace, and is another fairly sleepy tune at first. I would have placed it later on the album, but I love the vocal harmonies and delicate guitars by Schenker. A very sombre and reflective song, I really dig it, but too depressing and slow at this point, bad placement.

    One of UFO's signature tracks comes next. "Doctor Doctor" is a revelation. After a very cool lead guitar introduction, the main riff comes in with thundering drums and bass, played with military precision. A great influence on both the punk and in turn NWOBHM movements, this is the point at which UFO began to make killer hard rock. Mogg voice is thick and full, and Schenker and Way are in near-perfect synchronicity with some great drums provided by the always stellar Andy Parker. A fantastic song, but hear the live version off of Strangers in the Night as well. "Space Child" slows down the album again. Another "Floydian" style tune, the song ventures into Gilmour/Waters territory with trippy vocals, extended solos, and a sometimes syncopated rhythm section. The lyrics are pretty nonsensical and seem to be a bit of a rip on David Gilmour in terms of style, but not terrible. Not a stand-out tune for me.

    Next is the mother of all UFO songs and my favorite song ever recorded by the band. "Rock Bottom" is an absolute masterpiece.  UFO is a living, fire-breathing, rock and roll machine firing on all eight-cylinders here. Schenker's riff crushes with heaviness, despite being not very distorted, relatively speaking. I love the slow section, which is quickly following by the band heading into an extended jam (with amazing drumming and bass), only to close the song with another all-out riff assault. A f**king monster of a song, and to me, Rock Bottom defines hard-rock in both sound and lyrical content. Side 2 opens with "Oh My". Heavy on the blues, the song definitely has quite a lot of swagger.  Schenker sounds great throughout the track, but over-solos a bit for me, something that he was certainly prone to. Fairly repetitive lyrically speaking, the song nonetheless enjoyable, if a somewhat too short.

    "Time On My Hands" is the most folk-influenced song on the album. Based around an acoustic guitar, the song is a far cry from the heavy rock songs on side 1, a bit too mellow and sleepy for me. That's really the problem with UFO, they could rock the house down when they wanted, but they often would compose a great deal of acoustic/mellow songs, many of which I and many other hard-rockers just can't get into. Not a bad song at all (especially the solos), but certainly not a high-light for me. "Built For Comfort" is a stab at the Willie Dixon classic. Mogg shows off his very gritty and bluesy vocals, the true high point of the track, alongside some smokin lead-guitar from Schenker. A great cover of the blues standard, UFO would take a much bluesier direction in recent years, especially on their 2012 album Seven Deadly.

    "Lipstick Traces" is a cool instrumental that has elements of classic music flowing throughout. Very calming and very European-sounding, the song has a flair and style all of its own, intricate, yet simple at the same time. A nice musical break. The album closes with "Queen of the Deep", another psychedelic trip of a song. Very Zeppelin sounding, it could have easily fit onto Led Zeppelin II or III. After a short acoustic intro, a heavy riff and jazzy drums accompany Mogg singing about a mystical and mysterious woman of lore. A nice closer to a pretty decent album.

   "Phenomenon" contains two songs (Doctor Doctor and Rock Bottom) that helped define hard-rock and in turn heavy metal. Besides these two songs, the album is a fairly acoustic-like collection of hippie/psychedelic and mellow rock songs. I believe that UFO would come more into their element over the next three albums, but moments of emerging brilliance can certainly be heard on this album. For fans of 70s rock, there is no question, you need to get this album, now.

Rating-8.5/10