Vanadium
A Race With The Devil

1983. A magical year for Italian metal: the legendary Certaldo festival took place, the first of its kind in Italy, with the participation of the main representatives of the Italian metal scene of the 80s, and this unforgettable work by the Milanese band Vanadium was released.

After the release of the good "Metal Rock" the previous year, largely inspired by 70s hard rock, this "A Race with the Devil" features a powerful hardening of sound by the Milanese band, which here for the first time presents the "classic" lineup, which would remain unchanged until the breakup in 1990: after the "dismissal" of Carlo Asquini, the great Stefano "Steve" Tessarin was recruited on guitar. The other members, for those who don't know them, were the singer Pino Scotto, bassist Domenico "Mimmo" Prantera, drummer Lio Mascheroni, and keyboardist Ruggero Zanolini.

The sound of the album, compared to its predecessor, is certainly heavier, but the style is still widely influenced by 70s hard rock: opening the dances is the classic "Get up, shake up", fast and catchy, a true anthem to rock 'n' roll. A rocky guitar riff introduces us to what I consider the standout track of the album: I'm talking about "I gotta clash with you", a granite and compact song, where the raspy and gritty voice of Pino Scotto plays the leading role, angrier than ever. The next track, opened by a beautiful acoustic arpeggio, is "Don’t be looking back", a ballad that has nothing to envy of those of contemporary foreign bands, alternating acoustic parts (which in my opinion are somewhat reminiscent of "Beyond the Realms of Death" by the legendary Judas Priest) with others where Tessarin's electric guitar breaks in, creating a masterpiece in which the singer's passionate voice reaches high levels of pathos. But the tranquility of the ballad gives way to the title track, "A Race with the Devil", indeed: a distorted guitar sound, a diabolical laugh, a piercing scream, and then off we go! A powerful song that talks, as you might have guessed, about bikes and speed, but it doesn’t shy away from addressing social issues by denouncing, in some way, the hypocrisy of society ("the people just don’t realize / we're angry just because of them / they gonna pay the price, nobody knows the when") and emphasizing the consistency of their rock choice with a lightning-fast guitar solo that always gives me chills. It’s followed by "Running wild", another clear manifesto of their life philosophy, opened by an intro that vaguely reminds one of Iron Maiden, then melting into a song that is not very fast, yet solid and gripping.

"Fire Trails", introduced by a brief acoustic part, is actually a rock&blues song, simply reaffirming the band’s musical origins (not coincidentally it’s the name of Pino Scotto’s current band). If you thought the best of the album was over, you’ll be surprised, because the next one, "Outside of Society", hits you with a speed metal velocity unusual even for the band itself, a denunciation of society's hypocrisy made with anger, enriched by Zanolini’s keyboard work, which even allows himself a Deep Purple-style solo, followed by a response from Tessarin’s guitar, gifting us another masterpiece of speed, precision, and above all, passion. The album closes with the instrumental "Russian Roulette", a nice piece, with numerous tempo changes and a convincing display of technical ability by the new guitarist.

Sure, the approximate English of the lyrics is something we can overlook, but we must admit the undeniable quality of the work and honor the memory of a band undoubtedly on par with many renowned foreign bands. The passion for rock of the five oozes from the entire album, they are, indeed, TRUE, with their stories of city suburbs, bikes, beer, and women, told by Pino Scotto’s cutting voice. Above all, passion, sweat, that’s what this album expresses to me, from which many should still take an example today.

P.S.: Please have mercy on me, it's my first review!!