Out of Reach

Blind Fury is essentially the band Satan became, as the line-up is identical with the exception of new vocalist Lou Taylor. You’d expect a simple name-change to be of no importance, but it’s pretty clear that the band had a new, although not all too different, style to boot. Songwriting is mostly of a traditional ‘rock and roll’ uplifting, playful nature with lots of various tributes to that lifestyle, and the appropriate simplicity to accompany it too. However, one needs only change focus to see the true nature of this album. Underneath, (mostly) dark, technical, borderline surreal – and very original – guitar playing reigns supreme, and is the one reason ‘Out of Reach’ is of so much interest. Pretty much every note bears a meaning of importance. Once you hit play, it gets increasingly difficult to stop listening, as every second gets more and more interesting. It leaves you with the feeling of wanting more and more and more, until you realize you’ve spun the damn thing twenty times over already. The reason: Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins. I am completely sincere when I say that ‘Out of Reach’ has some of the most impressive guitar playing I’ve ever heard. It may not be as technical and fast as their ‘Court in the Act’, but what it lacks in speed it makes up for in originality. A lot can be said about their projects, good and bad, but they were in my opinion the best guitar duo to come out of the NWOBHM. Yes, that includes Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The other members of the band shouldn’t be ignored though; faithful bass player Graeme English and drummer Sean Taylor have no problems keeping up and Lou Taylor is perhaps the most ear-pleasing, most technically flawless singer Ramsey and Tippins would team up with.

The album itself isn’t as good as I make it sound, as the songwriting is quite flawed. There are only a few truly excellent songs such as ‘Do It Loud’ and ‘Back Inside’, but admittedly, every song has something in it to like. There are so many layers of varied guitar riffs, melodies and duels that highlights are abundant and as mind-blowing as they come. The instrumental break starting 2:58 in ‘Back Inside’ which goes on for about 2 minutes is probably the best I’ve heard in my entire life and the solo is so good that Pariah found it necessary to rip themselves off and repeat it on one of their songs on ‘Unity’. The title song has a monstrous, totally gripping build-up, where Lou Taylor holds a note for what seems like half a minute after which the song goes full speed ahead with some trademark Blind Fury riffs. Near the end of the song, we have a jaw-dropping 1-minute guitar solo (which is perhaps the best on the album) and a bass that plays playfully along. ‘Dance of the Crimson Lady Pt.1’ initially gives the impression of being bit of a quirky song with its odd guitar playing, but after a few listens all the pieces fall together and a unique, world-class power ballad takes shape. The album works perhaps best with simpler compositions such as ‘Do It Loud’, ‘Dynamo (There is a Place)’ and ‘Contact Rock and Roll’, which are pretty much flawless for what they are, but they do lack the flavour of more advanced songs such as ‘Back Inside’.

The end product is somewhat disappointing as ‘Out of Reach’ could have been so much more, but unfortunately it’s bit rough around the edges as its oil-and-water songwriting makes it a confusing experience, but an extremely interesting and impressive one nonetheless. Few are the albums that make me giggle with joy like a little child and this, ladies and gentlemen, is one of them.

In my first (and quite short) review, published nearly two years ago, I gave this album a score of 74%. However, after some thinking I came to the conclusion that a revision was in order. Though I still think the songwriting belongs in the 70-79% range, it feels almost criminal to dismiss it into the ranks of such run of the mill “good but not great” creations. After all, I have given ‘Out of Reach’ as much listening time as albums scoring in the 90-99% and the talent displayed here truly is so exceptional that it deserves better. I just can’t for the life of me understand why this album isn’t given more attention and respect. It’s not super-technical like Cacophony’s ‘Speed Metal Symphony’ and most every technical thrash/death album out there but damn, has anyone ever sounded like this?