For Those Who Dare

No review for "For Those Who Dare" so far? What's going wrong here? No clue. Anyway, let's deflower this work before it gets lost in hundreds of other contributions during the next virgin review challenge. By the way, this is no painstaking work, because Chastain's sign of life from 1990 does not suffer from serious flaws. The poppy cover version with its boring guitars is useless, but the own compositions shine with heaviness, force and robustness. Already the opener makes a clear statement in terms of vehemence and power and marks a good introduction to the bone-dry and heavyweight album - despite, or maybe because of its slightly bulky riffing which does not focus on a smooth flow.

Based on a strong production, guitar wizard Chastain and his congenial singer throw song after song into the imaginary crowd. The degree of heaviness does not significantly differ from their previous works. David Chastain and mates do not wallow in technical gimmicks, although they would have the skills to do so. Yet they rely on the power of ironclad riffs (for example, the merciless "Please Set Us Free" scores with a neckbreaking guitar) and the glorious voice of Leather. This female powerhouse shapes more or less each and every song. I feel some warm sun rays shining into my heart , whenever I hear her singing "I Am the Rain". Yet here is no time for romantic nonsense. As always, she sounds as female as necessary and as male as possible. A perfect combination for this pure, unveiled sort of metal. Her skills are outstanding and the same applies for her passion. Believe me, I have a patriotic tendency - and this is the reason why I never want to witness a metal battle between Leather and Doro Pesch.

Some tunes start pretty melodic and almost soft, but even the relatively airy love song "Light in the Dark" cannot be blamed for delivering radio-compatible fodder and the slight philosophical touch of its lyrics ("I hear the silence of my thoughts") appeals to me as well. Nevertheless, the coarser approach that characterises most pieces is more interesting. In particular the A side provides an insight into the well equipped armoury of the formation. Every note hits the spot and I do not really understand why this album seems to stand in the shadow of its predecessors. One thing is for sure, the songs do not lack coherence or power. Maybe the band was falling between two stools while being too soft for thrashers and much too vigorous for posers, but it is more likely that the band just did not go with the trend. Needless to say that this is almost always a good thing, at least from the perspective of a fan.

Too bad that "Secrets of the Damned" constitutes the only track of the B side which is on an equal footing with the material of the first half. The A side has more strictness and a darker touch. Anyhow, the band plays tightly together and all compositions do not hide away their solid substance. The down-to-earth approach, which has become a typical trademark of the group, proves its inner strength once more. This is power(ful) metal, maybe not overly spectacular, but free from false intentions. Well, you do not need to write the second review for this vinyl, but you should give it a chance.