Year : 2021
Style : Hard Rock , Heavy Metal
Country : Germany
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 162 mb
Bio:
Victory is a German heavy metal and hard rock band from Hanover, most successful in the 1980s. With extensive tours and radio airplay, the band also made a breakthrough in North America.Victory was formed in 1984 from the remnants of the band Fargo. Bassist Peter Knorn, the two guitarists Tommy Newton and John Lockton and drummer Bernie Van de Graaf had all previously worked together in that band. After originally working with singer Pedro Schemm, former Gary Moore- and Ted Nugent-singer Charlie Huhn became the band's singer. Recommended by Scorpions' guitarist Rudolph Schenker, the band sign a management deal with David Krebs (who managed, among others, Scorpions and Aerosmith).A self-titled album appeared in 1985 on CBS Records to mild controversy because of the cover art: a scantily-dressed woman lying on her back with her legs spread, forming a V. The hype worked and the album made the charts. But before the first US tour, drummer Van de Graaf was replaced by Fritz Randow (ex-Eloy). Apart from playing 60 concerts, the band was also in the two largest festivals of the country, Day In The Green in Oakland before 60,000 and the Texxas Jam in front of over 80,000 spectators. After his return to Germany, John Lockton was replaced by the former Accept guitarist, Herman Frank.With their second album Don't Get Mad... Get Even the band again toured through Europe and America and the single Check's In The Mail gave them a radio hit in the USA. The third album Hungry Hearts came out in 1987 leading to yet more European and North American live work. A concert in Hamburg was recorded for a live album, which appeared in 1988 under the title That's Live. After its release, Huhn left the band, in order to join Humble Pie. For his replacement the band auditioned, among others, later Thunderhead-frontman Ted Bullet, but eventually decided for a 22-year-old Swiss, Fernando Garcia.The fourth album Culture Killed The Native achieved #19 in the German charts and also entered the charts in the USA again. A Europe tour as support for Gary Moore followed, before Victory started their first headline tour through America, as well as their first concert in Canada. Both Singles Never Satisfied and Don't Tell No Lies again received airplay on Radio and MTV. By 1990 a second studio album with Garcia was released: Temples Of Gold appeared in the top 20 in Germany and the first edition of it added a six song live EP, of recordings made in Los Angeles. An additional US-Tour followed, before 1992 the Album You Bought It You Name It was released.Victory now ranked alongside Scorpions, Accept and Helloween as the most successful German band but announced their split in 1994 with the double live album Liveline. But two years later they returned with the new album Voiceprint. Frank was replaced by the new, then Los Angeles–based guitarist Jake Paland (who has also worked with PFL, Timo Maas and Jimmy Somerville amongst others), and Randow by Matthias Liebetruth (who some years later would play for Running Wild). The album's release was accompanied by an extensive tour and the single releases Deep Inside The World and Cyberia, of which the latter again received airplay on all major music-TV channels. Varying personal interests among the band members though led to the final dissolution for the band.Newton made a name as a producer (he worked on Helloween's Keeper of the seven keys), Knorn became manager of Uli Jon Roth, Glenn Hughes and Michael Schenker. Huhn joined (in 2000) Foghat and Garcia (from 2004) sang for Swiss metal band Godiva. Randow in the meantime played for Saxon, Liebetruth became drummer for Running Wild and Paland continued working as a studio guitarist and focusing on his own projects.In 2002, rumours of a reunion of Victory started. Garcia declined to participate, which made it all the more surprising that in 2003, the album Instinct appeared with the almost original lineup of Huhn, Newton, Frank, Knorn and Randow. Victory played some concerts in Russia and Bulgaria as well as Wacken Open Air - a festival in northern Germany. Since Huhn was living in America, tour activities were difficult and he was again replaced, now with Jioti Parcharidis, the singer of Human Fortress.With Parcharidis, the band released the album Fuel To The Fire, containing re-recordings of their best-known songs in January 2006. Thereafter yet another line-up change followed. Randow left Victory and was replaced by former Sanvoisen drummer Achim Keller. Appearances followed at Bang Your Head!!! and Sweden Rock-festival as well as a European tour in support of Metal Church in May and June 2007. Four years later the band released Don't Talk Science in what they were calling their final album. The album was recorded in 2009 and was releasecd in May 2011 on Label Golden Core /ZYX music.In 2013 Herman Frank who is member with Accept since their reunion in 2009 decided to continue Victory together with singer Jioti Parcharidis, guitarist Christos Mamalitsidis, Peter Pichl on bass guitar Running Wild and drummer Michael Wolpers. Since their first show at Rock of Ages-festival in July 2013 Victory keeps on succeeding. So upcoming rumours can´t be stopped about recording the next Victory album.
Album:
Victory return with a new album after a 10-year absence and with fewer original members (only longtime guitarist Herman Frank remains). You would think with such a change in band members it would in the best of situations change the fundamental sound of a band that has been around on and off since 1984. Admittedly my knowledge of Victory is limited to owning their ’89 release ‘Culture Killed The Native’ so it’s tough to compare their trajectory over the years, but I’m here to tell you that this is an incredible sounding album and surely must be one of the highlights of their career.The album tackles many different styles of rock and metal, all of them expertly handled, making for an exciting and unpredictable collection. It opens with ‘Love & Hate’ with its guitar note plucking groove, solid bass line, and catchy melodic chorus. From there you’re thrown into the fast-paced double-based title track and then the band goes for a southern rock/metal sound with first single ‘Cut To The Bone’, a song that has the type of groove that could have easily been found on Cinderella’s Night Songs LP.From there the album goes from strength to strength. You got the mid-tempo passionate rocker ‘Unconditional Love’, the high-tempo inspirational powerhouse ‘Into the Light’ (I’m a sucker for songs about overcoming adversity), ‘Rising Force’, which is reminiscent to the metal band Iron Savior (particularly in guitar tone), and slower but thick grooved ‘Mad’. One of the best aspects of this release is the proper running order of all the tracks. Slower and faster melodies are properly balanced while also maintaining consistent heaviness and grit.Fans who are worried that there might be too much of a drastic change will be happy to know that singer Gianni Pontillo is vocally on par with ex-Victory singer Fernando Garcia. Their vocal tones are so similar that when I first heard the songs without reading the press release, I thought Fernando was back in the band. The man does a fabulous job on vocal duties and sings with power and conviction.I bought ‘Culture Killed The Native’ a decade ago and enjoy the album, but without a doubt this new album is a stronger release. Thirteen total tunes and not one weak track on the album. It’s remarkable that a band consisting of newcomers can gel with one of the original members of the band, creating what will surely be regarded by longtime fans as either a return to form or possibly one of their best releases. For any band to carry on a legacy for nearly 40 years and produce quality material is remarkable. For those not familiar with the band, no matter what your tastes are in terms of sub-genres of rock and metal, you are bound to find something to love here. What this means for me is I need to go back and check out their other releases, knowing that this album will have set a very high bar.
Line-Up:
Gianni Pontillo - Vocals (2019-present) - See also: The Order
Herman Frank - Guitars (1986-1996, 2003-2011, 2013-present) - See also: Herman Frank, Poison Sun, ex-Hazzard, ex-Moon'Doc, ex-Accept, ex-Pänzer, ex-Sinner, ex-The Element
Mike Pesin - Guitars (2019-present) - See also: Herman Frank, Magistarium, Thomsen
Malte Burkert - Bass (2021-present) - See also: David Reece, ex-Exotoxis
Mike Stein - Drums (2021-present) - See also: ex-Ensamble
Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. Love & Hate
03. Gods Of Tomorrow
04. Cut To The Bone
05. Dying In Your Arms
06. Hold On To Me
07. Into The Light
08. Mad
09. Unconditional Love
10. My Own Desire
11. On Fire
12. Rising Force
13. In Rock We Trust
14. Leave You Alone
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
