Trouble Within

I got both Juggernaut albums at the same time, in 1989 to be precise, and although I did like them and listened to them a couple of times, I seldom recalled them whenever I felt like listening to something outside the mainstream. Some time in the mid-90’s I was looking for another US obscurity from the glorious 80’s, the power metallers Griffin, and since that cassette was right next to the Juggernaut one on the shelf, I decided to give these folks another spin. The debut produced the same mildly positive impression on me, a passable, competent US power metal affair, but the album reviewed here got stuck in the player longer.

On the sophomore the band had gone the extra mile to give more freedom to their less ordinary visions, and the effort clearly shows as “Without Warning” is an imposing bass-driven marvel recalling the debut with the faster-paced escapades, the couple of more complex guitar pirouettes hinting at the more engaging direction taken. “Vengeance” is a choppy power metal cut with echoes of Fates Warning and early Queensryche, and “Russian Roulette” is an Accept cover... kidding of course, a more aggressive shredder with dramatic stomps and hard thrashing rhythms, the bass duelling with the sparse lead guitar showings. “The Calm Before…” is a short peaceful atmospheric instrumental, probably the calm before the “Swarm” which is a heavy brooding pounder undermining the musicians’ skills as nothing really eventful occurs through its nearly 7-min the brooding doomy “idyll” solely broken by the stylish hectic ending. The title-track is where the singer truly shines whose high-strung very emotional clean timbre acquires glass-shattering proportions for a while; music-wise this is progressive power metal with more than the usual twists and turns, kind of predating the elaborate exploits on Helstar’s “Nosferatu”, but this is less exuberantly constructed. “Weeping in Fire” is a jumpy technicaller with more pronounced leads and a jarring rhythm-section which may have impressed the Watchtower guys where the drummer Bob Jarzombek’s brother Rob was, and still is, taking care of the bass duties at the time. “Onslaught of the Hordes” carries on in the same vein the guys experimenting with bouncier riffs and more intricate fretwork, with a memorable chorus admirably pulled off by the singer, the bass support traditionally strong and vociferous. All the way to “The Pirate’s Blade”, a more subdued pounder sustained in a somewhat downbeat mid-pace.

In a way akin to another similarly-styled act from around the same time, Aftermath (Arizona), the band had cooked a diverse dish here, one that has many flavours but never settles for a leading one. Consequently it would satisfy a larger gamut of fans although the latter will be a bit confused by the frequent shift in focus, from epic to progressive to technical to atmospherically melodic and vice versa. There’s nothing wrong in variety, especially when it comes to music and women, but in this case this has been achieved as an aftermath from too many scattered ideas and uncertainty as to which path to be taken, not so much from the lack of musical skills cause those are amply displayed all over. The Jarzombek link could have been explored further, and the Watchtower folks again could have been given a run for their money, but the call from the epic power metal side of the guys’ hearts was just too strong to be ignored thus dissipating the more technical aspirations and blurring the loftier progressive visions.

At least the aforementioned Aftermath had the chance to straighten the flaws on the subsequent demos whereas our friends here disappeared without a trace in the midst of the 90’s without being able to record any tribute to the new music vogues. Jarzombek became a highly sought out session drummer while the others haven’t taken a very active part on the music arena all these years. They by all means caused some trouble within the American metal underground back then; it’s always worth trying to cause similar mayhem on the always-welcoming contemporary scene.