Year : 1985 (Koch International Records Edition 1989)
Style : Heavy Metal , Speed Metal
Country : Austria
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 90 mb
Bio:
Austrian Heavy Metal band from Imst, Tyrol.Formed in 1983, split up in 1990.With the members sharing writing and lyrical credits on various tracks Maniac, featuring Christoph Just (guitars/vocals (backing), Markus Überbacher (guitars/vocals (backing), Mark Wederell (vocals) and Werner Ranftl (bass/vocals (backing) would release Maniac (1985). Andy Marberger (bass/vocals (backing)) and Tom Peroutka (drums) would be featured on the follow-up Look Out (1989). The band would loose its contract with record company 'Koch' soon after. After two unsuccessful demos they called it quits in 1990.
Album:
Debut full-length album.Recorded and mixed at Spygel Studios, Kirchheim/Teck, West-Germany, June/July 1985.The mid-80s were generally known as a softer time for metal, not merely for the ascent of the Sunset Strip scene that hit its first apex with Motley Crue's commercial boon Theater Of Pain, but also due to a curious trend of British bands making a drastic turn in the AOR direction and taking a decent chunk of Europe with them. Even by 1985 one couldn't help but note how Teutonic heavy metal stalwarts Accept had taken a more arena anthem approach on Metal Heart, as the speed metal style that they'd helped to pioneer started to break off from the mainline and become its own thing. In this context, a band like Austria's Maniac could be treated as something of an unlikely dissident, but ultimately an impressive one that made a solid go at keeping the metal end up on their eponymous debut of the same year.Sporting a highly unique covert art that looks like a crazed Jack Nicholson getting his head split from the top by the band's logo, what comes to the fore musically speaking is otherwise completely typical, for 1982-83. Everything from the voice of British born one-off front man Mark Wederell, whom left his homeland to join this Austrian upstart at around the time Saxon was ushering in the aforementioned AOR craze, to the generally crunchy and riff-centric approach to the accompanying music leans in about as heavy on that well-rounded blend of traditional and speed metal thunder that typified the early 80s entries of Judas Priest and Accept. Between the Downing/Tipton dual guitar assault of Christoph Just and Markus Überbacher and the thunderous battery provided by bassist Werner Ranftl and mercenary session drummer Peter Garattoni, it's the total package, falling short only in the originality department.To be fair, this doesn't come off as a full on clone of the Accept or Judas Priest approach, but more of a missing link between the grittier side of the NWOBHM that was inspired by the latter and the stainless steel of Restless And Wild and Balls To The Wall courtesy of the former. The high octane opener "You Don't Know It" kicks this album off like a raging bull, sounding like "Fast As A Shark" were it to have been blessed with a Defenders Of The Faith production. Nothing quite reaches the same level of explosive kinetic energy, though the cruising fury of "Stage Free" turns up the Screaming For Vengeance factor and the shred-happy guitar work and gets pretty close, while more scaled back semi-speeders like "Get Ready" and "Ride On" make a respectable ruckus and sport plenty of over-the-top vocals and lead guitar displays. But in terms of infectious hooks and glorious odes, it's mid-paced crushers like "God Of Thunder" and the gargantuan 8 minute tribute to "Balls To The Wall" and politically charged closer "We Swear At You" where this album truly delivers the goods.Ascribing the label of generic 80s speed/heavy metal might prove misleading in that it would suggest that this album is somehow mediocre, which is hardly the case, but it is definitely something that is unashamedly obvious about the influences to which it pays tribute. This is the sort of metal that would have been on the cutting edge about 3 years prior if it had come out of either England or Germany, with heavy influences from the other being along for the ride. Nevertheless, for a band hailing from a nation that made a modest contribution to the metal landscape in the 80s, this is a solid cut that should definitely appeal to earlier heavy metal fans whom want it fast, heavy and with a reasonable remnant of the style's hard rock past along for the ride. Apart from maybe the overtly safe rocking grooves of "Shout It Loud", there are no duds to speak of in this speed-infused arsenal, and old school metal junkies will want to hear it for a solid fix.
Line Up:
Mark Wederell - Vocals
Christoph Just - Guitars, Vocals (backing) - Songwriting (tracks 1-8), Lyrics (tracks 1-8)
Markus Überbacher - Guitars - Lyrics (tracks 1-8), Guitars, Vocals (backing), Songwriting (tracks 1-8)
Werner Ranftl - Bass - Songwriting (tracks 1, 4), Lyrics (tracks 1-8)
Peter Garattoni - Drums
Production:
Recorded At – Spygel Studio
Mixed At – Spygel Studio
Mastered At – Tonstudio Rico Sonderegger
Cover, Design – Sissy Just
Engineer – Batze Kramer
Lacquer Cut By – R. SO.
Mastered By – Rico Sonderegger
Mixed By – Tom Krüger
Music By, Lyrics By – Just , Überbacher, Ranftl
Producer – Maniac
Tracklist:
01. You Don't Know It 04:21
02. Get Ready 03:37
03. Dressed to Kill 04:23
04. God of Thunder 04:11
05. Ride On 03:37
06. Shout It Loud 04:16
07. Stage Free 03:24
08. We Swear at You 08:32
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
