Heavy Metal Thunder

“…where were you in ’79 when the dam began to burst…”

A few pressings exist of this sampler named after a featured Saxon track – the original French, Mexican and UK pressings, and a Japanese one – and each mixes things up with slightly different band line-ups (which admittedly can be both cool and annoying) with some songs boasting release dates back to innocent ’80 and beyond.

Obviously the main dishes for all versions is firstly Saxon, secondly Demon, and thirdly Rage, three UK bands that’re already veterans by the time this disc’s thunderclap causes sensitive canines around the globe to cower in fear. Dokken’s far from important here given their debut just became available, meanwhile important’s an adjective Heartbreak will never see without a telescope. Who the hell’s Brian Connol(l)y? Yep, said the same thing myself. Well, he finds modest importance as Sweet’s vocalist from ’68-’79, snagging over three minutes of A2 (side a, song two for those unschooled in lp jargon) groove time to showcase the a-side of his ’82 single. Aren't we the lucky ones?

With these eleven tracks comes nuthin’ really unexpected - some metal absolute, some iffy fence-squatters, and some hard rock fluff that isn’t a big mystery to anyone with any metal sense. Of course Saxon heaves upon us three helpings of the first expectation with the especially early hot-footed “Heavy Metal Thunder” (complete with stormy intro), the ’80 single version of “Motorcycle Man” (despite info saying it’s the album version), and not-yet-timeless anthem “Denim & Leather”. No brainers? Sure.

“Liar” and “Total Possession”, Demon’s offspring, for me illustrate the difference in character of their ’81 debut and ’82 follow-up. “Liar” (released originally as an ’80 single a-side) symbolizes the unrushed, kinda ho-hum disposition that’d carry over to debut Night of the Demon, an album that I feel finds rough times pushing its own heavy rock around. Not always, but sometimes. Conversely, “Total Possession” resembles its more animated home world of The Unexpected Guest that to me is almost a starship compared to its elder kin. Not always, but sometimes. The latter is the one to hear here.

While Rage’s total three album discography is more of a hard rock sell than metal, they have moments where asses haul over to metal’s side of the fence and truly land some hook-laden punches that’re hard to ignore. Unfortunately, the kinda ordinary and somewhat contrived (despite a promising pre-chorus) “Long Way From Home” really isn’t one of ‘em, however the slowly-brooding six+ minute “Thank That Woman” is well worth the extra stylus mileage and with its near-triumphant song-ending soloing brings fitting closure not only to this disc, but their ’81 debut as well. One of the sampler’s best.

Dokken contributes with the modestly infectious “Nightrider” (from their debut) and higher wheelin’ “We’re Illegal” (with info claiming the debut lp to be its home as well, yet never actually appears there; the tune’s real homestead is an ’82 single that happens to have a very similar cover to the lp, however the version featured here extends about a minute longer), with the second track secure on the lower rungs of the sampler’s highlight ladder. Of course Dokken would go nowhere and disappear without a trace, and I’m Helen Keller’s older sister.

Sweden’s Heartbreak…c’mon, the song’s called “The Backstreet Kids”. Even though no one could predict four teeny-boppin’ brats would someday gather to become the Backstreet Boys (undoubtedly the impulsive go-to image of anyone seeing this after ’96), what can such a Menudo-like title on an ’83 metal sampler accomplish but unleash similar near-fatal deathchills upon unsuspecting metalheads. What we get is yer typical ’82 crapmmerciality of April Wine/Power Play-Chilliwack/Opus X caliber that scissorkicks this track into nearby fens to drown.

Mr. Connolly lucks out a bit as Heartbreak’s flatliner outraces him to his assumed throne at the barrel bottom, yet the guy gives it a decent shot with the mildly catchy “Hypnotized”, but in the end is out of his league, especially when some new wave keyboards slice off hunks of smelly MTV cheese into our laps.

You’ll find more (limited) goodies on alternate pressings, such as:

The Mexican pressing:

This edition (through Peerless Records, via Carrere) moves stuff around, boots Dokken and Connolly for an inclusion by UK’s Spitfire (no relation to the cool matchstick men on the Scandinavian Metal Attack compilation of ‘84) as well as an extra Rage track, and simultaneously reduces and enlarges the back cover’s readability by miniaturizing the typeset while offering songs titles in both Spanish and English. The record’s center label blushes pink to red as well.

Spitfire's active “So You Want to be a Rock n’ Roll Star” (a Lucifer’s Friend song title if I ever heard one) balances on the line of cool and corny, decent and doofy, where bursts of syncopated cheering is the backdrop of its partially ‘na na na-ing’ chorus that’s straight out of an awesome Bay City Rollers handbook, making this peach totally middle ‘o the road, if that. Think I’d rather have kept Dokken’s “Nightrider”. Rage’s “American Radio Stations” unfortunately isn’t much hotter and is in fact a lesser attraction than “Long Way From Home” and a clear-cut downturn from Dokken’s “We’re Illegal”, the tune it replaces.

The Japanese pressing:

This one alters the jacket a bit and comes with a good ‘ol OBI strip prized amongst some collectors. Here, Dokken and Connolly turn heel at the sight and sound of Australian punk rockin’ (more or less) rowdies Rose Tattoo, an act way more worthy of metal’s attention than at least Connolly as well as Heartbreak. Not sure about that? Come back to me after the frantic no-frills of “All the Lessons” and look me in the eye. “Assault & Battery” is slower and more methodical (i.e. meh), but still towers above the offerings of the latter two acts.

The UK pressing:

The British pressing floats us back up to eleven tracks, omitting lovely Heartbreak while swapping Rose Tattoo’s virile “All the Lessons” for what would become the sampler’s eldest creation in “One of the Boys” from the Aussies’ ’78 debut, a very basic creature in a Motorhead-meets-AC/DC mold that should be shot for usurping the much better “All the Lessons”.

Overall, most depreciation of Heavy Metal Thunder comes with already owning the three Saxon tributes (which isn’t hard to do) and automatically knocks its musical significance down by at least half. Beyond that, the price of admission should go toward Dokken’s non-lp gem “We’re Illegal”, “Total Possession” by Demon, and the album’s sleeper, Rage’s “Thank That Woman”. Of the variants, being studious to “All the Lessons” of Rose Tattoo is an easy effort. There may be more alternates, but I haven’t seen them.