Tankard: Chemical Invasion (1987)

Well, since I just talked about Tankard yesterday, I do not really need to re-introduce them.  The German thrash metal band released their follow-up album to 1986's Zombie Attack the very next year. 

Tankard was already pretty damn good on their debut album, but they still managed to improve on their sophomore release.  If anything, this album is even more savage and biting than their first one, kicking off with some terrific riffs in "Total Addiction".  The songs are more sophisticated from a compositional standpoint, featuring varied structures and a more dynamic sound, rather than the more direct songs on the debut.  Shockingly, the band even uses some very pretty acoustic melodies leading into the instrumental "For a Thousand Beers", which is quite the dichotomy when considering the title.  But that song represents the best songwriting on the album.  The band also uses a blues riff to open the title track.

The band's sense of humor and obsession with alcohol persists.  "Tantrum" is about being pissed off that someone stole your beer.  And then there are songs like "Puke" and "Alcohol", which is re-recorded from their debut release.

I am just beginning to discover the music of Tankard with these two releases.  Their debut was impressive enough, but this is even better and belongs in the pantheon of great German thrash metal albums.  I will have to keep going with this band.  I still do not know if their larger body of work deserves to be held up with the Big Three (Destruction, Kreator and Sodom), but I could be convinced.

Tankard: Zombie Attack (1986)

From Tank to Tankard.  I remember a discussion on the metal forums about whether there is a actually a Big Four of German thrash metal.  Obviously there is a Big Three, consisting of Destruction, Kreator and Sodom.  But is there a fourth titan of Teutonic thrash?  Many members posited that if there were, perhaps that band would be the beer-loving goofballs in Tankard.  Personally, my vote would go to Holy Moses, but Tankard has been going fairly steadily ever since their formation in 1983.  So there is something to be said for longevity and consistency.

Zombie Attack is the debut album from Tankard, who got a bit of a later start in the game than their more well-known colleagues.  The band's sense of humor and light-heartedness is on display early on with the title track which talks about watching horror movies then finding it was coming true.  Tankard is definitely less serious than the members of the Big Three.  With songs like "Alcohol" and "(Empty) Tankard", their obsession with beer shines through.  The latter makes a terrific drinking song with a grooving stomping riff.

Musically, this is fast-paced thrash with a lot of bass-heavy riffs thrown out at the listener.  Despite it being a debut release, and the goofy lyrics, there is no doubt that this is a mature-sounding thrash metal outfit.  The riffing is surprisingly sophisticated, sounding like the work of a veteran band.  The vocals are often delivered in a harsh yell, but are often backed by gang vocals singing along during the chorus.

This is a damn impressive debut.  It is much more refined than the debuts by Destruction, Kreator and Sodom.  I am still not sure that Tankard belongs on the same level as the other three bands, but their debut fits in well.

Running Wild: Under Jolly Roger (1987)

It took me a long time to discover Running Wild's music.  I had always heard about them of course, the German band is a major influence in the power and speed metal genres.  Running Wild is often mentioned in the same breath as Blind Guardian and Helloween when discussing the origins of power metal.  But so much of their material was hard to find and out of print, so it took a long time to find anything.  That started to change last year and this is now the third album by Running Wild in my collection, joining Death or Glory and Blazon Stone.  This is also the earliest of the albums in my collection and was one of my primary targets when I began looking into Running Wild's music.

This album may be Running Wild's first to take on the pirate theme that the band would become well-known for.  I could be wrong about that, but it is certainly when the theme became the most obvious.  This is obviously different than groups like Alestorm, who take the pirate theme to the next level, but Running Wild did have a strong lyrical theme about pirates.  It showed through in the title track here which also featured various sound effects to sound like cannon blasts.

The songs are here are melodic, yet heavy and catchy as all hell.  There are a number of fist-pumping choruses that make the listener stand up and take notice, including the obvious "Raise Your Fist" and then "Beggar's Night" and "Raw Ride".  The riffs take obvious influence from the likes of Accept, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and there are some incredibly impressive galloping guitar solos as well.  The guitars are of course the major drawing card on this album, but the rhythm section shines through as well and is a bit of an underrated part of the band.  The vocals are delivered in kind of a sneering snarl, but are still quite melodic and powerful.

I am still in the process of discovering Running Wild, but this is my favorite album to date.  It packs a punch while retaining an infectious melodic sound.  The pirate theme is not all-consuming at this point, as only a couple of songs deal with pirates.  It is an interesting theme, and at the time was definitely unusual.  This album is a lot of fun and is influential for a very good reason.  This is a great example of what power metal from Europe used to sound like, back when "power" was the operative word.  I will be continuing to explore Running Wild in the future, I have a long way to go.

Reevaluating To Mega Therion by Celtic Frost

First off, I am never going to claim that I did not care for this album at any point.  This has always been my favorite album by Celtic Frost.  And it has never been particularly close.  The album is legendary and for very good reason.  There are multiple classic songs here, songs like "Circle of the Tyrants" and "The Usurper".  And so it has earned its legendary status.

The album stands as a landmark in the creation of a number of extreme metal genres, including thrash, death and black metal.  What I have realized however, is that it may contain some of the very first death/doom metal tracks.  Death/doom is largely considered to have started in the early 1990's with groups like Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Morgion.  But several songs on this release (and several on the criminally underrated Journey Into Mystery by Dream Death) have all of the elements that came together into the fusion genre.  Songs like "Dawn of Megiddo", "Necromantical Screams" and the aforementioned "Circle of the Tyrants" all sound like something that could easily be on an early Paradise Lost album with their slow and lumbering, yet massively heavy riffs.  And the tone on the guitar and bass during the riffs is something of which Asphyx would be proud.

Finally, I think that "Endless Summer" is one of the most underrated songs in the entire Celtic Frost library.  It never seems to be mentioned among the band's many classic songs, but it absolutely should be.  That opening riff is absolutely amazing and it is one of the heaviest and fastest songs the band has ever released.

I am by no means saying anything controversial when I refer to this album as a legendary release.  It gets massive amounts of credit for its influence on death and black metal, I just think it is equally important to the genesis of death/doom as well.