Don't Get Mad...Get Even

Though the history of Germany's unsung 80s metal hero project Victory traces its roots back as far as the mid-70s and originally set their sights on the metal world with their eponymous 1985 debut, the true mythology of this third way project in a German heavy metal world dominated by Accept and Scorpions would not wholly manifest itself until a year later when their riveting and commercially successful sophomore outing Don't Get Mad...Get Even first hit store shelves. Though not a total musical dead end with no relevance beyond the arenas of 30 plus years past, the original incarnation of this outfit was more an exercise in retreading 70s orthodoxy as established by AC/DC and Van Halen, dressed up in a post-NWOBHM AOR gloss. This all changed when longtime guitarist from the Fargo days John Lockton exited the fold and was replaced by none other than master head-cutter Herman Frank, fresh off a brief stint with Accept that culminated in their most iconic studio offering Balls To The Wall. With this veritable metallic force on the six-string trading riffs and leads with Tommy Newton and sporting an album cover featuring a gun-toting Amazonian brunette that's a dead-ringer for 90s B-cinema queen Julie Strain, the metal program of this Hannover outfit was poised for a major upgrade.

Naturally the caveat that this is an album that is lyrically stuck in the corniest of 80s glam cliche should be kept in mind, as can be gleaned simply by looking at the song titles. That being said, the collective musical picture is one that leans a bit closer to the early offerings of W.A.S.P. and Twisted Sister than the outright Def Leppard meets AC/DC lovefest that was the last album. Most of this lay in the heavier riff set that emerges from behind Charlie Huhn's over-the-top, sleaze-infused vocal gymnastics, having more of a Judas Priest root to the riff work that is undoubtedly the result of Herman Frank's involvement. Naturally there are still some pretty blatant remnants of the previous album on display here that presents sort of a dueling musical paths or fork in the road where most of the album leans towards Frank's Accept days and a sizable minority wants to trade blows with Def Leppard's Pyromania again. This is perhaps best represented in the easy-going semi-ballad "Arsonist Of The Heart", which almost sounds like it's predicting the sound of the aforementioned band's 1987 commercial smash Hysteria, save with fancier lead guitar detailing. The same basic story emerges on the more than a mouthful titled "Seven Days Without You Makes One Week", classic Def Leppard styled, bluesy rocking arena fare to the core, not to mention the almost Boston-like melodic romp "She's Back", which almost sounds like the missing link between Don't Look Back and High 'N' Dry.

All that being said, the rocking side of this album works well despite the cringe-worthy song titles and lyrics, but takes a major backseat to the purely metallic offerings that dominate the race. Kicking things off on a very high note is a sort of corny yet witty rock radio anthem meets a homage to Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming" dubbed "The Check's In The Mail", which also served as this band's first stand alone hit single. Another fairly mid-paced yet heavy hitting riff monster emerges in "Not Me" that is maybe a tad less catchy, but is loaded to the brim with iconic Herman Frank styled guitar brilliance that rivals the screaming goodness of Vivian Campbell's run with Dio. But things truly kick into high gear with a trifecta of fast-paced numbers in "Are You Ready" that reminds a fair bit of the W.A.S.P.'s "I Wanna Be Somebody", the double-kick infused nod to Defenders Of The Faith with an Accept edge "Hit And Run", and the aptly titled and menacing cruiser "Running Wild". Even when the band takes a break from the fast-living and loving subjects for an aside to put the censorship police and MTV on notice via the rebellious anthem "Turn It Up", the riff work has a clear Accept vibe to it that melds perfectly with the Def Leppard mannerisms inherent to Huhn's vocals and the massive drum sound.

For the modern neophyte that can't be bothered to differentiate between the metallic edge of W.A.S.P. and the hokey glam rock character of acts like Poison and Cinderella, an album like this may prove musically confusing to an extent, or perhaps even a validation of grouping the former with the rest given that in addition to toting the stereotypical image associated with the latter, the words that hang over the music are all but a dead-ringer for them. This should not cause the old school metal head who may be wary of or otherwise not crazy about the latter day glam rock outfits to pass this album up, as musically it is about as compelling as the iconic early NWOBHM offerings of Tygers Of Pan Tang, Demon and several others. One of the things that ultimately separates the metal world from the sad, talentless black hole of 90s Grunge culture is an ability to focus on the good times as well as the bad, and though this album offers up something that is generally interchangeable with the lyrical pursuits of Scorpions albums of the day, it provides a fairly clear cut musical alternative to both said band and Accept in the musical department where the light-hearted character of the former can coexist with the harder-hitting edge of the latter. One might be tempted to hit the skip button a time or two in order to avoid the outright 80s glam fodder, but overall this is a solid slab of 80s metallic goodness that stands up to the passage of three decades quite well..

Now based on the review I gave Victory's debut album you would probably wonder why in the world I would want to listen to more of this band. Well, Victory seemed like a band with potential. And I guess I was proven right. Everything on this album is a major improvement over the self titled debut. Well, not quite. Victory has atrociously cheesy lyrics on their self titled album. They still haven't lost it quite yet. If you though Victory couldn't come up with cheesier song titles than Chicks on Display or Some Women Ain't Easy, you would be proven wrong. We get more cheese for song titles such as Arsonist of the Heart, Turn it Up, or Seven Days Without You Make One Weak. This makes me want to sigh. The lyrics are still sleazy and stereotypical and the song titles are still ridiculously stupid, but at least this time the songs are better.

I don't know how, but somehow in the span of one year Victory managed to drastically improve their song writing. Instead of the generic mid paced two or three power chords which dominated their last album, the songs on this album actually have more variety. And they are definitely more interesting than before. Just by itself the song Hit and Run is far better than anything that was on the last album. It's actually more rocking and metal instead of snore inducing. Ah but there is a catch to this whole improvement deal. This band still sounds like a glam AC/DC tribute band. This time they do better than last time, but as a whole while the songwriting is certainly improved, the riffs still sound like a more flowery AC/DC. This band just doesn't really have any power in their riffs. There's precious few riffs on this album that want to make you want to bang your head and act like an idiot on this album. And even if you did, you would probably think of AC/DC and then want to listen to them instead. Maybe I'm reviewing this album so you don't have to listen to it.

Another noticeable thing is that Charlie Huhn has considerably improved his voice. This time around it is at least more clear, and he has become better at hitting those high notes. This can be evidenced in Are You Ready, with its pretty catchy chorus. However the problem that still plagues Charlie Huhn is that he still sounds way to much like Brian Johnson. As if the quasi AC/DC riffs weren't enough to remind you of AC/DC, you get the bad imitation of Brian Johnson. If only Charlie Huhn could be more unique, maybe he wouldn't be quite so bad.

The guitars on this album are a definite step up. I wonder if replacing John Lockton with Herman Frank did it. Somehow however the guitar solos became much better, still not anything mind boggling but at least now they fit better with the songs and seem to work better. The other thing about the riffs on this album is that at least the songs are fairly discernible from one another, and while not very memorable, their are clear differences between some songs whereas on the last album they all just blended in like pieces of fruit made into a smoothie. At least this time they just keep the pieces of fruit separate. Sort of. The definite stand out track on this album though is definitely Running Wild. Funny thing is there is an excellent band named Running Wild that plays songs in this vein except far better. Anyway though this song is more like the sound Victory should aim for, a fun catchy, but actually good traditional headbanging metal song. I was going to give this album a 40 or so but this song gives me hope for Victory.

The drumming has also taken a small step forward. Particularity on Running Wild and Hit and Run. On Running Wild the drums actually sync noticeably well with the guitar riffs. And on Hit and Run you hear that above average drum intro. The problem though is that this guy doesn't have a lot variety. Whereas the patterns used work, it just isn't that exciting.

Well, this album is a definite step forward in the right direction for Victory, however this album really isn't really worth spending money on. The farthest I would go is to listen to these songs on youtube.