Artillery
Fear Of Tomorrow

Artillery were the most creative and seminal Danish thrash metal band of the '80s, the first to challenge the power of the sacred Teutonic triad Sodom-Kreator-Destruction in Continental Europe. 

Their importance, aside from historical, is also linked to their qualitative progress: one of the few bands capable of growing album after album with consciousness and without overdoing it, without the slightest support from their record label, relying solely on themselves and their music. Not just a clone ensemble of German bands, nor a slavish imitator of Bay Area rhythmic patterns seeking a reason to exist, but a band with a resolute raw sound, dense, that continues to blend the heavy of Mercyful Fate with the speed of N.W.O.B.H.M., passing through Slayer's "Show No Mercy." The band was formed in 1982 in Taastrup thanks to Jorgen Sandau, and the brothers Michael and Morten Stutzer, joined by drummer Casten Nielsen and singer Per Onik. With this lineup, the band recorded their first demotape, followed by two more with singer Carsten Lohman, replacement for Onik, preceding the entry of definitive singer Flemming Rondsorf before signing with Neat Record, the English label of Venom. All these changes underline the gradual change of sound of the Danish band, which starts from Sabbath influences and N.W.O.B.H.M. to arrive already with the third demo "Deeds Of Darkness" at the hoped-for hardening of the sound, in line with the nascent thrash.

The debut album "Fear Of Tomorrow" was released in the summer of 1985, preceded in March by yet another demo with an identical cover, and presented various tracks taken from the demotapes, offering a raw and impactful sound, with a fair variety of rhythmic solutions, more or less frantic, or connected to the speed of Albion's heavy, such as the dark and bloody "Show Your Hate" ("Terror, horror and death - tonight you're the victim/Pain, torture and fear - your knife is waiting for blood"), with Rondsorf's deep singing, directly from the caves of Oliero, which announces the increase in speed and the whistling solo like firecrackers in a pot that make a racket during the afternoon nap. Surprising is a doom and varied song like "King Their Name Is Slayer", with Flemming's unique singing, truly personal in the greasy and grimy parts, capable of effortlessly varying to higher pitches. In this track, rhythm and inspired and thoughtful solos shine, to the point that it seems like listening to fellow Danes Mercyful Fate, even in the drumming of the mysterious Kim Ruzz (King Diamond as a soloist in "Fatal Portrait" greets the band through the inner cover of the vinyl).

The production is really raw and tends to overshadow the sound of the bass, which, however, fights its way through to be heard, but this is not surprising given the limited budget provided by Neat Records, which affects the good success of some songs like the fast and warlike, with a doom-like start, "The Eternal War" ("The Invaders from the sea have tortured and killed all our men/Raped all our women and burned the world we had built over the years/There is no way out from this torment/They kill us all one by one/We are about to wash the blood from our bodies/But soon they will come again"), even if at times drummer Carsten Nielsen does not excel like other drummers of the era (less fast and less imaginative), yet maintaining good levels. For example, in the title track, the rhythm is fast, but the drummer always indulges in the usual oscillations, supported by the compact sound of the axes (Michael Stutzer is a guarantee) that shines even more in the final and gloomy "The Deeds Of Darkness" ("Fear of light and day/I had to live this way/Forced by an unknown power/I completed my dark work/I believe in evil, the dark makes me wild/I believe in death, corpses give me life"). Bell chimes and Sabbath reminiscences lead us into the world of darkness, into the planet dominated by Flemming's feral voice, where the song unfolds through tempo changes and the compact sound of the guitars, reminiscent of the dark night, the cries of souls tormented by lashing solos. Heard after years, the album shows the rope for the very inadequate production for the compositions and makes one want to dive headfirst into "By Inheritance" to refresh with the clear sound, clean solos, well-chosen tempo changes, also due to Morten Stutzer's switch from bass to guitar. Yet this debut has a sinister charm, an obsolete but also wicked sound, requiring repeated listens to emerge. Anticipating, especially with Flemming's voice, the compact metal of Canadian Sword from "Metalized" with the sixth track "Into The Universe."

Nonetheless, the album has notable historical value, considering that in that year "Hell Awaits" by Slayer, "The Day Of Wrath" by the Italians Bulldozer, "Infernal Overkill" by Destruction" and "Power From Hell" by the English Onslaught were released: in every part of the globe, the voice of raw, thrash, or speed metal was on the rise. Artillery humbly joined, after three years of apprenticeship. In the grooves of "Fear Of Tomorrow," years of trials and demotapes pushing to come to light are enclosed. Artillery couldn't wait to have their vinyl in their hands and played it with heart more than with head, with little budget at disposal and some naivety in terms of execution.

Despite their skill and compositional abilities, the band managed to perform live only a few times: the album remains largely unknown outside the circle of die-hard fans, who weren't just chasing American thrash or the demon of the smoky cellars of Essen. Partial redemption arrived in 1987 with the semi-masterpiece "Terror Squad," but the grit, determination, and skill of the musicians were often defeated by the greed of the music business.