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Rating: One hot June day, I found myself wandering around a well-known flea market in Rome. Here, I often find the most amusing and bizarre things to buy, but above all, I take the opportunity to stock up on books, DVDs, CDs, and occasionally LPs. In the mix of titles, I never really expect to find the album of my favorite bands, but of course, you never know: "Venditti", "Disco samba", "Bimbo mix", "Mixage", "Lando Fiorini", and all of a sudden: "Krokus - Metal rendez-vous"! I didn't hesitate, paid the moderate price of 3 euros, and brought home the unthinkable relic.
A cover that’s too 80s, with two cars colliding, rising up at the impact and releasing some artificial smoke, and inside, a lovely little poster of the band performing live. But the "Top" is the back: The credits are printed like a police report: what a spectacle! I already knew Krokus, not very well, but I had something from the "Headhunter" album on some "dubbed" cassette. As one might guess from the outlandish cover, it's early-eighties metal/hard rock strongly influenced by the Bon Scott era of AC/DC, to which Krokus is similar both for the hard 'n' blues style and for the voice of Marc Storace (whose debut coincides precisely with this album), warm and hoarse, really reminiscent of AC/DC. Surely, Krokus has made the history of Swiss metal, which, despite its meager surface of just 41,285 km², besides cheese, chocolate, and papal guards, has churned out very respectable rock and metal bands like Coroner, Celtic Frost, and Gotthard.
"Metal rendez-vous" was released in 1980, in the middle of the NWOBHM era, a period considered a line of demarcation between hard rock and heavy metal, when many rules had yet to be set and much metal road was still to be traveled. If in the '50s all singers did everything they could to sound like Elvis, in the '60s the beat music, the hair, and the look was all "Beatles-style", and in the '70s the influences came from a myriad of milestone bands. But one thing is certain, the true pioneers who thrilled rockers worldwide with their hard'n roll were AC/DC. Very likely, when that quiet Swiss group devoted to prog-rock named Krokus got an earful of "Let there be rock," they must have had a revelation like John Belushi in the movie "Blues Brothers". If you're a fan of the more modern sounds of metal, you're obviously on the wrong track; the primordial metal of Krokus isn't for you, the production is not the pinnacle of sound quality, forget about looped guitars and triggered drums; indeed, the crackling of the old vinyl makes it all even more retro and, in my opinion, more captivating.
"Heatstrokes" opens the dance, and from the first notes, it’s clear that the tacky album cover does not do justice to the technical value of the band: the guitar interplay of the Kiefer/Von Arb duo is immediately well showcased. It's followed by the catchy "Bedside radio" and its pleasantly predictable chorus, a thing that The Darkness discovered twenty-five years later! The album continues on enjoyable levels with “Back Seat Rock ‘N’ Roll,” one of the best in the batch, from which a fun video was also made. Then there's "Streamer," the inevitable slow one reminiscent of early Nazareth, while with "Come on" and "Fire," you get back to headbanging. Overall, an excellent album, which in its sound certainly draws inspiration from the Young brothers' band, but has nothing to envy more well-known and overrated classic metal bands (Twisted Sister?????) that may still be inexplicably revered after so many years (Manowar????). A sincere rock, hard and melodic in equal measure, which is still fun to listen to after thirty years.
To conclude, I'd like to cite a line from the "report" on the back cover: TYPE OF ACCIDENT: METAL RENDEZ-VOUS, CAUSE OF ACCIDENT: 100% OF ROCK AND ROLL IN THE BLOOD!...and I've said it all!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Heatstrokes (04:01)
I know you call me
A dirty lover
But that's exactly
What you need
It's not the talkin'
Not even the jokin'
It's bedtime action
Baby til you plead
Heatstrokes fire burnin' smoke ooh yeah
Heatstrokes fire burnin' smoke
I've got to do it
Twice or more tonight
Ooh baby I need you
Your pants are so tight
Chorus
Let's get some shelter
I need it fast and hot
So take your umbrella
And we can do it on the spot
Chorus
Heatstrokes
02 Bedside Radio (03:22)
The show is over you got to go home again
Late in the night you're dreamin' of the guitar man
The radio station plays his latest song
It says your way of life is kinda wrong
Do you hear your bedside radio
Do you hear your bedside radio
You wake up early in the morning to the radio news
But in your blood is still this dose of blues, yeah
The sound of the band has turned you upside down
Instead of going to the office you're leavin' town
Do you hear your bedside radio
Do you hear your bedside radio
Do you hear your bedside radio
Do you hear your bedside radio
Do you hear your bedside radio
Do you hear your bedside radio
Turn it on
Turn it on
Turn it on
08 Fire (06:07)
You've got no real ambition
You're justa hangin' around
All you try to do
Is keep from fallin' down
You feel so sick and tired
Nothin' left to see
I hear you callin' and callin'
Oh Lord, watchya doin' to me?
Fire, fire is what you need, yeah
Fire, fire we've got it for you til you bleed
It's no bed of roses
To be in a desert so long
All those silly drawbacks
Well you take them one by one
Nobody shares your burden
They only say you're blind
We try to give you power
To leave your dead life behind
Chorus
Fuego
Krokus
Usted tiene ninguna ambición
Usted es justa hangin 'en torno a
Todo lo que tratamos de hacer
Es evitar que Fallin 'abajo
Se siente tan enfermo y cansado
Nada izquierda para ver
Te escucho callin 'y callin'
Oh Señor, watchya haces a mí?
Fuego, el fuego es lo que necesita, sí
Fuego, fuego que tenemos para usted hasta que sangran
No es un lecho de rosas
Para estar en un desierto por lo largo
Todos esos estúpidos inconvenientes
Así que toma uno por uno
Nadie comparte su carga
Sólo dicen que estás ciego
Tratamos de darle el poder
Para salir de su vida detrás de muertos
Coro
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