Knock Out

Man, was this slab a disappointment… I was jumping around on the previous instalment “Point Blank”, not very jubilantly the entire time as this effort was a change in style towards more radio-friendly pop metal modelled after the US glam metal practitioners, the band keeping their eyes on the Land of the Free unblinkingly, dedicating tracks (“L.A.”, “American Nights”) to it as they went, hoping that they’d hit it big over there at some stage… Scorpions and Accept did it, for crying out loud… their time would come, too… right?

Right, but this flippant bitch known as the music industry had other designs regarding its subordinates, our friends here included. And the bitch was probably right, to never give some a chance… well, in this particular case it’s debatable whether the band under scrutiny here didn’t deserve it as theirs was a most explosive debut, a dynamic collection of heavy metal hymns that alone should have placed them at least very close to the top. One more slab of the same would have probably done the trick, and “Fire Works” could partly be considered that slab, a few more timid Americanized nuances notwithstanding. Those nuances took the upper hand on “Point Blank” which was still a pretty decent entry into the band’s gradually softening discography.

We reach now a knock out phase in said discography, the album reviewed here. Right-off-the-bat, this streak in the band’s career sounds like a genuine one as they stuck with it for a really lengthy string of albums. It was started on the previous opus, and was crystallized here, on this sugarized Americanized hard rock affair which still contains some faded metallic vigour on the bouncy opener “Streets of Freedom”. Once this 5-min long moment is gone, the guys switch to a most carefree unpretentious party mode, and a cut after cut come pouring sweetly, all tributes to the US musical heritage, including frank references to the folk country side (“Take My Heart and Run”) of it, the cheesy cover of the rock singer Billy Squier’s “The Stroke” also clinging towards this realm. Shades of rowdiness (“All We Got”, “Down and Out”) are taken straight out of the last (at the time) two Motley Crue efforts, with the difference that here there’s nothing on display that could be used to kickstart your heart, the semi-balladic “Fight for Love” seeping with poignant romanticism and sentimentality, and the soporific full-fledged ballad “Rivers of Glory” a pale copy of the band’s much higher achievements in this trend (remember “You Make Me Feel” from the debut) from the past. The closer “Tonmeister” is an awkward all-instrumental compilation of styles, with some actual heavy metal popping up among bouts of screamy lead sections, fast-paced accumulations, people talking, and jazzy extrapolations the band trying to break the stalemate with belated spasms of thinking outside the box which again ends up on the patchy half-cooked side of the spectre.

The thing is that this last piece doesn’t feature Claus Lessman, the biggest asset here, the man behind the mike, who loyally provides his warm passionate clean vocals elsewhere to those who care… cause it can never be certain how many were the fans won for the band’s new face, including in the USA. The previous instalment must have generated some interest in the guys’ art; otherwise, they wouldn’t have chosen this path and again stayed on it for such a long period of time. Still, this remains a banal derivative recording which goes through the motions with little excitement generated, simply cause to perform music of the kind one doesn’t need any strives at creativity. The band were clearly entering a retrospective stage of their career where phasing out the metal completely was a very tangible possibility. There was no room for rowdy reminiscences from a near-glorious past; those couldn’t serve the new direction taken, one that at least sided them with their American brothers… cause this seemed to be the ultimate target pretty much since the beginning.

And the guys again stayed on this target for quite some time after this album’s release, restoring some of their metal clarity of old once the new millennium came, and have been a steady presence on the scene with new outings showing up every few years. The quality of the first three efforts can’t be reached, but some of the more recent slabs easily beat the album here… but only if you accept the fact that Lessman isn’t the singer anymore. He departed the fiery camp in 2001, leaving Hans Ziller, the guitar player and band founder, the only permanent member. That’s alright, the guy’s been delivering, even if his metallic roots don’t show up as prominently, including on his latest creation (“Roots”, 2021)… the fire’s still burning, the flames are still kissing the skies.