Nighthawk - No Mercy (1988)

Driving German metal with clear, clean vocals and surging musicianship, good stuff. The title cut is a real headbanger, 'Born To Fly' (strange keyboard arrangement - and reminds me of the Scorpions) and 'Goddess Of The Dark' follow suit, fanning the flames of evermore, making this very decent classical metal. Not quite hellbent on raising demons, this still echoes through the caverns majestically.

Album cover kind of represents the sound...suggestive of terror but fleeting and pretty harmless.

6/10

Tank - Filth Hounds Of Hades (1982)

Like a mallet to the skull, this comes screaming, punching and biting like a punky Motorhead fuelled by gallons of beer. Pure rock 'n' roll Armageddon, great album title, cool album title, and enough swaggering, high intensity metal to keep you happy for its duration. 'Struck By Lightning', 'Blood, Guts And Beer', 'Heavy Artillery' and 'Run Like Hell'. What more could you ask from a record ? The hotel is trashed, the armies have gathered, a storm is brewing...but it's time for another beer.

7/10

Tyrant - Mean Machine (1984)

'Blood Suckin' Woman', 'Grapes Of Wrath', 'Making Noise & Drinking Beer'....Darkthrone need to hear this! Can metal be this good yet so criminally ignored ? Tyrant, whoever they are, seem about as metal as it gets, churning guitars blowing black smoke, doom-laden drums and a vocalist who stirs like some evil behemoth and grins eerily into the grim sky before puking out some kind of glammy, sleazy, yet avant garde drool, that wouldn't be out of place on a Celtic Frost record.

This is gargantuan metal to slay a thousand dragons. File alongside Heavy Load and Overdrive, although this may well be first to the finishing post, because it's simply so dense. And by the time 'Invaders' kicks in with thrashy aplomb, you'll be left checking the speakers for debris. The next time someone asks you what heavy metal is...play this.

8/10

Tyrant - Fight For Your Life (1985)

Holy shit, why is there something so evil sounding in Tyrant's sincerity ? This is classic metal (not to be confused with the also very cool Tyrant who released 'Let Us Pray'), these German metalheads play a strutting metal groove, full of all the cliche's in a sense, but vocally there is something odd. Maybe it's just me, but when I first watched the classic metal movie 'Trick Or Treat', even in its corniness, I sensed a fiery evil, maybe it was the way Tony Fields played the dark metal hero Sammi Curr, and I'm getting the same feeling here, especially in the vocals which shift between a lip-curling pout to a double-barrelled watery growl, bizarre yet brilliant. 'Metal Rules' is a pure anthem with solid percussion and driving guitars, and that density caused by under-production which always occurred with these kind of bands back in the day. 'Fight For Your Life' and 'We Will Rock' have that same doom-laden chug of sinister abandon. Many reviewers found this dark quality whilst talking about the records by Deliverance, who were abit of an obscure yet overtly satanic group, who turned out to be a bunch of geeky teenagers who somehow, in the deep bowels of genius, got their finger on the pulse and produced classic, eerie metal. Tyrant are part of that absurd clan, and 'Metal Attack' is one of those records that needed to be heard by innocent teenagers who wanted to know just how fiery metal really was.

Makes Iron Maiden pale into insignificance...

8/10

Overdrive - Swords & Axes (1984)

Doom-laden classic metal from the '80s. These Swedes, alongside Heavy Load, provide fire, imagery and startling heavy rock with an ease that should suggest vast fame and fortune. Of course, Overdrive weren't all that popular but this stomping album once again proves that all the best bands are forgotten. Solid heavy metal conjuring images of great dungeons, damp castles and darkened skies, punctured by the streaks of guitar lightning and drumming thunder. And of course, the enigmatic and suspenseful 'Dream Away', touted as a forgotten classic in metal circles. An acoustic intro that soars like some iron albatross into the zenith before galloping like some metal horse. A message for youthful rebellion if ever there was one, casting images of pumping fists and warrior yells. 'Mission Of Destruction' rumbles, 'Black Revenge' chugs...it's an album to discover at any point of your life, and will bring out the hardest metaller in your soul.

8/10

GGFH - The Very Best Of... (2001)

Are you telling me there's a demand for this kind of scary music ? Well, I guess I'm proof of that! GGFH are depraved, unhinged serial killer-obsessed lunatics who play an industrial-electro style of obscure weirdness that will have you lunging for an escape route. Their classic albums 'Disease' and 'Eclipse' are difficult to find so how wondrous for the planet that Peaceville has assembled this package of sleaze. Littered with film samples and creepy dialogue, the 'band' create a soundtrack to some disturbing nightmare you can't wake from. Yep, all the classics are here, 'Room 213', based on the exploits of serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, the cyber-rock of 'Fiending Korpse' and 'Nothing Left Inside' , which will make you bath for days! Dark, throbbing and downright unnerving, GGFH want you to know that they've been peeping through your letterbox every night and they are coming for your children.

7/10

Badlands - Badlands (1989)

Reviewer Martin Popoff gave this sultry, swooning, strutting bluesy metal record a whopping 10/10..I'm not having that!! Well okay, it's a very good record, tinged heavily with shades of Deep Purple and Zeppelin magic, mainly because of the extraordinary guitar work of Jake E. Lee, who was one of the best guitarists of the genre for me in the '80s, and the band is fronted by the late Ray Gillen, whose voice is a smooth, caressing yet driven croon. Some big songs on offer, blazing a trail for '80s metal without the influence of Satan...'High Wire' is pure sex as it pivots on that ecstatic riff and Gillen shimmers and shakes, whilst 'Dreams In The Dark' drives like a bigger Whitesnake. Hard metal all over, played for real without the showmanship, and yet somehow this was lost on most but when you hear that rhythm of 'Dancing On The Edge' and the explosive crash and banging of 'Streets Cry Freedom' you'll be reaching for that guitar you never learnt to play. But...BUT...this isn't classic, faultless metal because for me it lacks the darkened edge of metal, and the home fire's burning here had already been lit by the previously mentioned Purple and Zeppelin. Even so, it's still classy metal but it was one of those records that many may have ignored due to its watered down packaging (dull band shot), but Lee's riffs alone are worth the purchase.

7.5./10