Pressure

From the ample bosom of the Garden of Eden, this Bavarian quartet found themselves working under a lot of pressure on their next instalment. Three albums in three consecutive years, an obvious strife at the spotlight… if only the music situation hadn’t changed so drastically in a very short time span. The guys quickly made a name for themselves with the first two opuses, enjoyable catchy power/speed metal slabs with both cheese and aggression fighting under the jolly optimistic umbrella which had firmly sided with the old school.

If there was any pressure exercised in the studio, it’s hardly been reflected in the songs compiled here; don’t expect the good old speed metal, though, as there’s only one composition (“Skyline of the World”) that belongs with the carefree lively spirit of the first two efforts. The rest is a passable but hardly exceptional vacillation between hard rock and classic heavy metal, the supposed title-track “Under Pressure” early setting the formula to be followed, bouncy but friendly rhythms, memorable sing-along choruses, a few heavy walkabouts, Gerd Salewski’s nice attached clean vocals greatly helping the hospitable de-pressurized pageants.

Some groove (“Never Ending Nights”) has invariably found its way into the soundscapes the band finding their stride in the ballads this time, with “Metamorphic Dreamer” being a heavy bouncy ride, and “Fire in Your Eyes” closing the saga with romantic idyllic snoozes. The balladic factor is present elsewhere as well, but there’s little wrong with catchy sprawlers like “They Will Always Find a Reason”, or with belligerent mid-pacers like “The Snake” which keep the intrigue the latter wanting more from cheesy poppy fares like “They Want More” and mild quasi-progressive rockers like “Temple of Shelter”, the setting never becoming tense or rowdy save for the mentioned isolated speedster.

The thorns of this rose seemed to have started falling away at that time, the guys losing their speedy ideals, trying to match the metamorphosis witnessed by their main models Helloween. Not as interesting as “Pink Bubbles Go Ape”, but vastly superior to “Chameleon”, this album could be ascribed some relevance, especially some quarter of a century later, as it was still holding onto the old school canons by emphasizing on the mellower, rock-ish moments from the first two instalments. Surprisingly memorable for the most part, but too welcoming and blasé-executed as well, this offering will also remind of another transformational attempt, also from Germany, Heavens Gate’s “Hell for Sale!”, but less detrimentally modernized… and these soaring vocals again, easily exonerating the other performers from any glaring pitfalls.

A return to the roots of some sorts would have even heightened this opus’ renown, but since the band voted to carry on in the same mild direction, it remained in the recycle bin alongside the next two recordings, the similarly-performed, moderately progressive “New World”, and the balladic rocky vaudeville “Insight”, the guys eventually reaching the “Chameleon”-esque bottom, if not even starting digging for a deeper one. An insightful epitaph? I don’t know about that one, but thornless… definitely.