For some strange reason, singer and bass player Algy Ward got rid of the Brabbs brother after Tank's third album ("This means war"). With Algy Ward being the only original member left, you might expect "Honour & blood" to sound different than the previous albums, but it doesn't. This album kicks off with one of Tank's best songs ever - "The war drags ever on" - and it's built in the same way as "Just like something from hell" from the "This means war" album. There are some songs that are very good and especially "Honour & blood", "Wasting my life away", and "Too tired to wait for love" deserves to be mentioned. There are obvious similarities between Tank and Motörhead, and if you're into fast and raw heavy metal without a single trace of so called hair metal or MTV metal you will most certainly like "Honour & blood".

This is the first album from Accept that is good all the way. It is unpolished and raw heavy metal with a singer (Udo Dirkscneider) that has a lot more in common with Lemmy from Motorhead than Ian Gillan (Deep Purple) or David Coverdale (Whitesnake). With "Breaker" (1981), Accept managed to write songs in traditional heavy metal fashion, like "Breaker" and "Son of a bitch", melodic and catchy tunes like "Midnight highway" and "Run if you can", rock 'n' roll inspired numbers such as "Burning", and a beautiful acoustic ballad by the name of "Breaking up again" which also shows us that Mr. Dirkschneider actually can sing. I strongly advise any fan of Accept and traditional heavy metal to get this album. Some say (wrongly) that Accept got commercialized a couple of years later when they released "Metal heart" and "Russian roulette", but no one can say that "Breaker" isn't a honest metal album worthy of your respect.

"Eat 'em and smile" is the first solo effort (excluding the previous EP of covers) from Van Halen singer David Lee Roth. This album shows Roth in excellent form, delivering songs that probably made the other Van Halen guys green of envy. Roth is just blasting away in traditional Van Halen approach (best covered on the albums "Van Halen I & II") and this album is packed with memorable and immortal tunes. If you like early Van Halen you should run right away to the nearest record store and get this album because you won't likely hear anything this great these days. The slower "Ladies night in Buffalo", the furious "Shyboy", the great cover of "Tobacco road", and the melodic "Yankee rose" & "Goin' crazy" are just a few examples of great music from great musicians (David Lee Roth, Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan, Gregg Bissonette). Ever since this release, I have waited in vein for an equally good album from Diamond Dave.

When "Love Gun" was released in 1977, Kiss were at their peak, and to a lot of people this is the album that best captures this either loved or hated band. Personally, I think the tracks here are very good almost all the way from the opening hard and fast "I stole your love". Gene Simmons gives us a couple of his best songs ever in the melodic "Christine sixteen" as well as the under appreciated "Got love for sale". Ace Frehley does his singing (?) debut in the over appreciated "Shock me" which has achieved cult status for some strange reason. Paul Stanley delivers the catchy "Tomorrow and tonight", while Peter Criss contributes with the more or less unknown but groovy and hard "Hooligan". The title track is a well known Kiss classic and "Almost human" seems to be a calculated effort to follow up "God of thunder" from the "Destroyer" album. Neither "Plaster caster" nor the cover "Then she kissed me" (chosen for its title?) stand out, but doesn't annoy you either. If you are a die hard old time Kiss fan you already has this album, but if you're a new fan or a casual one, this is a good starting point.

This album is not under rated. The songs "Angie" and "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (heartbreaker)" are very good indeed and might be a reason to get the album, but the rest of the material isn't anything to get excited about. Of course "Exile on main street" is a better buy than this one. It's not really bad or really good - it's more or less a decent or average Rolling Stones album that you can either have or lose.

"Dream police" (1979) is a very good album from the guys who seem to not think that rock 'n' roll is a dead serious business. The title track is very melodic and captivating, and the "House is rocking" is a steamy rocker. "I'll be with you tonight" and "Writing on the wall" show this band's talent for writing memorable tunes, and the ballad "Voices" is just beautiful. "Gonna raise hell" is a groovy number but it is far too long, and you actual get a bit bored at the end. The rest of the material is alright and "Dream police" is an album of rather high standard. The proper rating should be somewhere between 3 strong and 4 weaker stars. I believe this album together with "All shook up" is the best ever from Cheap Trick, and I advise you to get them both - you'll never know how long they will be available, since this most likely isn't considered to be cool among kids of today.

"Dressed to kill" is without doubt one of Kiss' finest albums with songs like "Rock bottom", "She" and "Ladies in waiting". Besides from the over played and over rated hit "Rock and roll all nite" this album includes a lot of very strong songs that haven't got the attention they deserve. I'm talking about the captivating "Room service", "Two timer" and "Getaway". All in all, this is a classic release from Kiss and it sums up the early years perfectly. After the following live album "Alive I", Kiss entered a new era. While the three first albums ("Kiss", "Hotter than hell", "Dressed to kill") has a natural connection to each other, the following three releases ("Destroyer", "Rock and roll over", "Love gun") is a bit musically different. Then followed another live album: "Alive II", and Kiss entered phase 3 - the disco and pop influenced years ("Dynasty" and "Unmasked"). Then the magic started to lose its power, leading Kiss towards MTV metal and changing this original and magical band into a mediocre act. Get "Dressed to kill" and remember the glory days that will never return.

Pretty maids started out as a promising band, going for traditional heavy metal of high quality. Over the years, pretty maid's have been able to keep their music modern but never selling out (like Def Leppard) or going astray (like Judas Priest). "PLANET PANIC" (2002) is a heavy metal album with a touch of so called power metal comparable to later Riot. Modern metal guitar riffs are blended with traditional ones not too far from Judas Priest's heyday (late 1970's/early 1980's). Original members Ron Atkins (vocals) and Ken Hammer (guitar) are both very talented, and this album has songs that are well written and involves interesting passages and parts. When it comes to covers, Pretty Maids have previously done Slade's "Far, far away" and Thin Lizzy's (i.e Lynott & Sykes) "Please don't leave me". This time they chose to cover Sammy Hagar's "There's only one way to rock" and they do it excellent as usual. I can highly recommend "PLANET PANIC" to anyone who's into real and pure heavy metal.

"Metal health" (1983) was the first metal album that reached no.1 on the Billboard chart, and it has sold over 6 million copies over the years. Quiet Riot haven't been able to top this triumph and as the years went by, they were pushed far away from the lime light - out of sight, out of mind? "Metal health" is not at all the band's best effort, but it includes the attractive title track and a great version of Slade's "Cum on feel the noize" (a lot of people seem to believe this is an original Quiet Riot song - check out the original). Other memorable tunes are the light rocker "Slick black Cadillac", the radio friendly "Don't wanna let you go", and the faster "Breathless". But all in all, this album is not outstanding, and selling over 6 million records is not necessary proof of a masterpiece. The general unconcerned public can really make your day, and Quiet Riot has their lucky star to thank for this major hit.

The debut album from Gotthard (1992) is a solid rock effort and it's more or less obvious that Gotthard are influenced by Whitesnake's "1987". The music is guitar riff based heavy metal with some blues and a lot of melody. Singer Steve Lee has a very good voice and the rest of the band is without doubt good musicians. It's too bad that Gotthard haven't got the attention they deserve because this band is just as good as any other band in this genre. If you like Tyketto, Hardline or Lionsheart you will probably like this album. The material is strong and songs like "Standing in the light", "Down town", "Firedance", and "Lonely heartache" should please any fan of traditional but melodic heavy metal. My only objection (which lower the ranking from a 4 to a 3) is that the songs are rather similar to one another and in the long run they have a slight tendency to melt together.