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Krokus > Change of Address > Reviews > DeathRiderDoom
Krokus - Change of Address

A Sad Example of Record Company Interference - 65%

DeathRiderDoom, January 18th, 2010

#4 In my Krokus Review Series

I could potentially go into massive detail with this review, but who’s going to read the damn thing anyway? So I’ll try keep it brief(ish). Krokus are a commercially successful band that capitalized on the (largely local) success of the ’81 album ‘Hardware’ and gained a string of record contracts with large company Arista, which lead to fairly big-budget efforts, and decent promotion, and the band having considerable record sales with especially ‘Headhunter’ but also ‘The Blitz’ and ‘One Vice at a Time’. Though always a fairly hard rock, commercial orientated band, playing a style often very similar to Australian titans ACDC (especially in ‘One Vice…’, and at their hardest Saxon, Krokus has far more talent, and have released a much greater array of materials then many of the other bandwagon pop-star wannabe bands that played a similar style.not only that, but Krokus in an early incarnation was formed as early as ’74, not only explaining their talent by the time the ‘80s rolled around, but also their working class hard rock style, and why they’re far more respectable than the bandwagoniers of the mid-late 80’s like Cinderella etc.

The aforementioned label deal with Arista did have it’s downsides though, and this came here in the form of label company pressure. While the band had more freedom earlier own, from what I understand, and came out with the top-selling ‘Headhunter’ their opus effort, with far more of a heavy metal style (including guest appearance by Rob Halford), but afterward came under increasing pressure from Arista, to shape their sound according to the commercial clap-trap that was selling in the United States; which included watered down rock/glam metal with obnoxious production by bands like Autograph, Giuffria, Fate, Firehouse, Poison, Tuff, Tyketto etc. Though some of these bands were great, it was not really where Krokus’ allegiances lied; they were a veteran band that had defined their sound with ‘One Vice’ and ‘Headhunter’ but since that had to increasingly commercialize their sound at the behest of record company exec’s. Not only here, but also in ‘The Blitz’ this had a big effect on the sound. For these reasons, this album was largely watered down, and panned by longtime fans of this band. It has been referred to as their “worst album to date”.

Exhaustive history aside, this album is a bit worse than their other ‘80s material, and features some pretty throwaway material, such as the lame ‘Hard Luck Hero’ with it’s candy-ass riffage, lame lyrics and pathetic subject matter. This song epitomizes what’s wrong with the album, and points clearly to record “execu-bot” interference (to quote Futurama. Krokus themselves state that this commercially acceptable masterpiece took them the longest production time out of any of their works to this date, and puts the onus on Tom Werman, producer, as well as the company as a whole. You can hear when listening to the song, the passionless, defeated tone in Marc Storace’s voice, and the whimpering, cowardly sound of Fernando von Arb and Marc Kohler’s guitars, who have crafted some excellent stuff in the past, especially with their strong rhythm section, who is as tight as Saxon’s at times. Anyway, this is the worst song, and it’s not all bad, but basically it’s the record companies fault.

The simplistically opener ‘Now’ is pretty decent, and while being commercially infused, it has some balls to it, at least. The production job on this album is really commercial, spacey and complex, as was the style, but it does make for some cool guitar tones in the solos, though often the riffs (which in the chorus here are actually quite cool) are softened up, and turned down. Incredibly catchy, this one is a wee bit closer to the classic Krokus sound, with an overall sound that is more inline with their direction, but a production/mixing job that tries to “glam it up” a bit, making it sweeter, and more inline with current trends. Storace proves he still has a great voice, and the band as a whole shows they still have a knack for crafting catchy as hell hooks. His pitch changes are as smooth as a baby’s behind, and he executes with balls in the gutsy chorus. The problem is the interference in production; drums sound candy-ass, like a drum machine, and are incredibly quiet, even if the pyrotechnic explosions are cool.

Though ‘Now’ is less-forced but with totally obnoxious production, others are not so lucky. ‘Hot Shot City’, though featuring some of the classic Krokus style ACDCish guitar, has pretty lame lyrics, reminding me of a lame version of their party anthem from ‘Headhunter’ ‘Stayed Awake all Night’. Basically this is the record company trying to copy ‘Dancing in the Street’ by Van Halen, but in the style of Giuffria. Some cool guitars, but you can’t hear them over the intrusive keyboards and thinned out, turned-down production. On of the shittier efforts along with ‘Hard Luck Hero’. I don’t mind this style of music when it’s done well by band who from the start were commercial endeavours (which you don’t take as seriously), but when it’s done by a band that can a) rock hard, and b) is obviously not their sound and more obviously record company interference, it’s just no good.

‘Let the Love Begin’ sounds like KISS’ early/late ‘80s material, and is a ballad that features a very locked in, tight rhythm section and guitars, that while technical, would be nice sounding if the production job didn’t have their greasy mits all over them. Storace is on form, and vocal phrasing in the chorus is ok, but the chorus is a little saccharin, with female backup vocals and lame lyrics. Guitars here again drowned out by keys, and the solo feels like it doesn’t fit with the music; like the guitars were forced to write something quick and commercial, rather than the awesome, passionate solos you get from Iron Maiden that are like climaxes organically developed with the song as a whole, and pushing forward the themes and meaning. Some of the other songs are catchy and okay, but often sound forced and watered down.

In summation this album is a victim of record “execu-bots”. Many of the songs are just plain not where Krokus would want to go. Sure, after ‘Headhunter’ they had been getting cleaner and more commercial, but this just crosses the line. The subject matters often seem forced, like “right a song about this” and “no, no, we can’t write about that” and the production, though fine for bands like Giuffria or Kick Axe, here is just intrusive. This is the biggest example of producer interference I can think of, and it’s no wonder it disappointed many long time fans, especially when you consider many were mature rockers by this time. It didn’t sell well like the company hoped, and instead marred the bands reputation, which they would take some time (arguably to the turn of the millennium) to repair. Largely avoidable, considering how large their catalogue is, and how much better their earlier works were. I wouldn’t hold it against the band though; you’re locked into a contract, and we all know how badly these producers behaved, and how it is nearly impossible to weasel out of a record-contract without being sued for millions, or unable to record under that name. A sad chapter in Krokus’ history.

-DeathRiderDoom