Crossfire: Second Attack (1985)

I could be wrong about this, but Crossfire may have been one of the first metal bands from Belgium.  Forming in 1981 in a country not exactly known for the genre, it is a pretty good guess.  This is sort of a hidden gem of an album.  I first found out about it seeing it in some forum posts and kind of took to the album cover.  I mean, just look at that, it is simply awesome.  Eventually I tracked a copy down.

Crossfire's sound takes a lot of influence from the NWOBHM and groups like Judas Priest and Accept.  This is the band's second album, as could be guessed by the album title.  I am not familiar with anything else as I targeted this album first, so I do not have much point of reference compared with any of their other material.

The songs are generally somewhat fast-paced with riffs that are mostly in line with the hard rock and metal styles at the time.  "Highway Driver" for instance is reminiscent of Deep Purple (the classic "Highway Star" is the obvious comparison).  It is more of a hard rock, driving (no pun intended) song with muscular riffs.  Then there is the frantic "Atomic War" which is much more of a speed metal track with blazing fast riffs and a catchy chorus.  There are a few slower moments, such as the sort-of ballad "Running for Love".

This is neither a well-known album, nor band, but is a lot of fun.  It is a great example of good heavy metal from the 1980's.  Unfortunately this was mostly it for Crossfire.  They released a live album and a split later on, but never released another full-length.  As such, this is a hidden gem.