On Through the Night

On through the Night is the portrait of a band young and eager to launch themselves onto the masses with this fun set of NWOBHM. One can see the group’s eyes gazing at a distant city called success, but the look is a hunger that drives riffs and twin leads down a vanguard of British invasion party anthems to drink along with and nod your head to. Metal was in a fairly sorry state in 1980, thus the much trumpeted revival crashing upon the scene in NWOBHM, and that was the secret of these infectious bunch of tracks – They made you believe in the future of metal; five guys jamming out with zeal, their innocent enthusiasm delivering a riff filled infusion to teenage ears, all eager for the next generation of metal hero’s to resuscitate the long haired masses and give them something to believe in.

Nothing fancy or necessarily superlative about this set of tunes, just solid guitar work and good times all around; the guys bent on playing for the sake of playing, writing catchy hooks and galloping rhythms. This isn’t an opus of musical might, only a soundtrack for a party at your buds house; this album blasting through your dated 48 inch wooden Pioneer speakers (still got them!), the evenings set to cruise as a bunch of jean jackets jumped and rocked away their teenage woes, our air guitars chasing the beers while later we chased the girls. Everyone laughing and drinking to tunes, none the wiser the sound is not the most technical display of writing, but damn the torpedoes the guys could play! All good with driving leads, great solos, and a passionate touch - It’s too honest to be corporate and too sincere to be from anyone but a bunch of guys who were most likely having their own party at the same time.

“Rock Brigade” is a simple enough opener, a ripping classic set to the time of party, while “Hello America” is almost too polished with its tracked in keyboards come chorus time, but infectious fun carries it through. “It Could Be You” rocks mighty for being under 3 minutes, containing depth lost from the bands sound in later years. In fact these and the rest of the songs clock in around 3 to 4 minutes, save the stately “Overture”; each a quick shot, for too many songs fail because they ride a good thing for too long, and these work because they get the job done and move on, not attempting to be more than what they are. “Wasted” gallops wonderfully and “Rocks Off” has those cheesy crowd noises piped in (thank you bad analog mixing!) but still pushes along nicely, the leads ripping through riffs and great solo work, encouraging someone to run out for another case of the good stuff. Speaking of solo work, check out the solo on “It Don’t Matter to Me”, the guitar work is wonderful and its criminal the band ran from this sound in latter years. Finally, “Overture” gets special mention, not only is it a great song, but probably the only real serious work towards an epic (that actually, you know… rocks) the group has put onto vinyl. The music rises and recedes to the tale and the lyrics realize the bands vision. While not noted anywhere I have read, it seems to be a companion peace to “When the Walls Came Tumbling Down”; it’s an optimistic closure that signals all will be well after the former songs apocalyptic vision, a sort of rebirth of man, well timed (though probably unintentional) with the rebirth of metal on the doorstep of the 80’s.

This is not an opus of the ages or a historical proto-type look at metal. It is also not a full on atypical NWOBHM album, smuggling in some polish and shine with the riffs and rolls. It’s not grim, brutal, conceptual, or even overtly technical. You get nothing more than the soundtrack to a great party circa 1980. And sometimes, that’s all you need.