Riot kind of passed me by at the time, never penetrating my 1980s musical bubble and, frankly, this doesn't possess the energy or aggression that is likely to to draw much of my attention all these many decades later. To me this sounds like a product of its time with way too much hard rock catchiness for my comfort. I mean, come on, "Feel the Same" and "Don't Bring Me Down" are Aerosmith tracks surely. This feels like AOR metal to me, written with US FM radio play in mind and not to provide any aggression or adrenaline as that may negatively affect record sales. Basically this is SAFE and safe is not a word I want attached to my metal listening thank you very much. I guess you want a bit more from me but, frankly, I don't want to waste too much time on this because listening to it is like staring at a blank wall for thirty-seven minutes. It gives me nothing and I shall return that with nothing of my own. If this is what was passing for metal in the US back in the early 80s prior to the thrash boom then I can understand why Def Leppard became so big over there (and you were welcome to them).  I guess "Swords and Tequila" is kinda fun and "Run for Your Life" is passable, but the rest is anodyne and meaningless to me. 

I have only listened to a handful of albums from Running Wild, from various points in their career and with mixed results. Of those I have heard, for me, this stands head and shoulders over the rest. Their later "pirate metal" schtick doesn't really track and feels a bit too goofy to take seriously, whereas "Gates to Purgatory's" speed metal influenced, occult-themed trad metal is much more to my taste. They appear to have been initially influenced by the early-80s metal coming out of the UK, particularly Venom who, considering their influence here and on the likes of Sodom and Kreator, must have been huge in Germany around this time. They sound more technically adept and tighter than the Geordie trio for sure, but the influence is definitely there. Another obvious touchpoint for me is Tank with Rock 'n' Rolf's vocals sitting very firmly in the same ballpark as Algy Ward. However, with their more melodic sensibilities, twin guitar attack and proficient soloing, the additional influence of english heavyweights Iron Maiden and Judas Priest can't be understated either. In fact I suspect they are named for the Priest song of the same name from "Killing Machine" which seems to be exactly the kind of track that this album's foundations are built upon. For me this dichotomy makes for a nice balance that lends the hooky riffs and proficient guitar work a suitably raw edge that pushes it into the more aggressive regions of the speed metal world and away from the pomposity of power metal.

It isn't all headlong speed metal charging, though, with the pounding and hulking "Preacher" having more of a doomy riff and slower tempo, putting the brakes on and allowing a pause for breath after the opening dual salvo of "Victim of States Power" and "Black Demon" before diving right back into the even more adrenaline-fuelled headrush provided by "Soldiers of Hell" and "Diabolic Force". Meanwhile "Genghis Khan" does sound awfully Maiden-esque and I may be imagining it, but it feels a lot like the spiritual successor to the identically-titled instrumental from the Irons' "Killers" album. It is, however, one of the album's weaker tracks, sounding a little bit messy at times. I'm not convinced by the closer, "Prisoner of Our Time" either. I like the anthemic chorus and the soloing, but the verses just feel a bit flat in comparison.

So how does it stack up then? You know what, I am actually a bit pissed off that I never got wind of this album at the time of its release because tracks like "Diabolic Force" and "Adrian S.O.S." were exactly the kind of burnt rubber, fuel-injected riots that a bike-crazy, speed junkie like I was back then would have absolutely drooled over. A couple of misfires aside I really like this and I would certainly take it over the band's later stuff. Maybe I would be a bit more disparaging of it if I had a history with the band, but I don't so I unashamedly give this a thumbs up.

The Uncanny Puzzle

I’d consider myself a big fan of Amorphis for a long time now, after I originally discovered the band in 2015 with the incredible Under the Red Cloud. Obviously Amorphis’ career and legacy started way before this as they are one of the most consistent and prolific bands on the Progressive side of Death Metal, and 1996’s Elegy was a massive turning point in that career. With the release of their 15th album Borderlands in 2025 it’s no secret that Amorphis have found the sound that they are comfortable with, seemingly content to release similar albums for the past 20 or so years. However, that wasn’t always the case as the band went through rapid changes and evolutions in the 1990’s, morphing from a doom and gloom Death Metal band on The Karelian Isthmus into exactly what a listener of today would expect on Tuonela. Within this stretch, Elegy stands as a strange transitional piece that distinctly pushes the envelope of Amorphis’ sound in a way that they most likely never will attempt again, given their track record. 

I was a very seasoned Amorphis listener before checking out Elegy, or any of their earlier material honestly. My listening rotation consisted of Skyforger and beyond for years and my curiosity was never piqued enough to go back to their humble beginnings. Because of this, I ended up listening to Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Elegy basically back to back, and it was a bit shocking. I was instantly drawn into Tales… because it was a heavier and dirtier version of the Amorphis that I had loved for years. Elegy then proceeded to blindside me with a fully Progressive Metal album that I still find very strange, no matter how many times I come back to it. It feels consistently and faintly familiar as a bunch of the tropes that are present in their later albums are here in full force, like the folky melodies layered on top of double bass and chugging rhythms as well as the oriental-like minor scales utilized on the opening “Better Unborn”. Despite these familiarities, this album continues to stump me as the whole thing feels a bit too wonky as Amorphis commits to a whole lot of ideas that don’t end up being cohesive for me. 

Even though it’s been a little while since my first time through this album, I still remember being taken aback by the vocals in general. Amorphis’ current vocalist Tomi Joutsen doesn’t join the band until their 2006 effort Eclipse, so harshes are done by rhythm guitarist Tomi Koivusaari as they were in Tales… along with cleans done by newcomer Pasi Koskinen. While I think Koivusaari’s groveling, early Death Metal vocals work well on their first two albums given the darker and heavier tones, having the same delivery on an album with a brighter, borderline psychedelic tone is uncanny to me. It can feel at home on tracks like “On Rich and Poor”, but the fact that it’s so one-note completely derails tracks like “Against Widows”, especially when combined with Koskinen’s expressive, almost gothic deliveries throughout the album. Maybe it’s because I grew up with Joutsen’s masterful middle-ground between harshes and cleans, but the two extremes of the vocalists on Elegy really take me out of the whole experience. For whatever reason, both vocalists just fall flat for me throughout and, in turn, makes the album a strange experience for me to sit through no matter how many revisits I give it. 

The addition of scratchy, 70’s prog guitars and the electronic noodlings is what gives Elegy it’s unique character as all these elements are intertwined with wisps of Amorphis’ normal riffing, which would become synonymous with their modern style. There’s a notable amount of parts being crammed into each track, with the lead guitar work being especially impressive in tracks like “Cares”, but sometimes these interesting parts are difficult to decipher due to being pushed back in the mix. There’s also a few very strange grooves that are attempted that really don’t land throughout the album, like the main melody in “Against Widows” or the incredibly alternative radio rock coded synths of “The Orphan” alongside Koskinen’s cleans. With Amorphis trying so many different things in this album, it’s almost a shock when a more straightforward track like “On Rich And Poor” comes on, to the point where I think it doesn’t quite fit with what Elegy is attempting. 

I think I’m the one who’s simply confused on what Elegy is trying to do. It’s strange, because this album should be exactly what I’d be looking for as a fan of the band that has been beaten down by so many similar sounding albums. Objectively, Elegy is a fascinating and truly creative album that is still unique to this day with its blend of so many opposing influences. Gravelly harsh vocals amidst glittery synths, melodic folk passages atop Death Metal inspired chugs, and a distinctive atmosphere that jumps between gloomy gothic and bright psychedelia offers so much to explore, but those parts never manage to coalesce for me. In many ways, this album is Amorphis’ most important album due to how many ideas they tried before turning into a band that refuses to stray from their established sound. There are moments in the back half on “Elegy” or “Relief” where I think the creativeness of this album still shines, but Elegy remains a puzzle I personally can’t piece together.

I remember so fondly back in April of 2001, when Kerrang TV was launched in the UK. I was still a relative newcomer to rock and metal, and without any relevant radio stations to listen to, and before YouTube existed, this was my portal to a whole new world of music.

One of the first ever videos I saw, and a song that will forever be imprinted in my memory, was ‘Last Time’, by American nu metal band Downer, taken from their self-titled second (and last) album, ‘Downer’. I was only 14 years-old at the time, and any group with a music video, airing on TV no less, were instantly huge, super rich rock stars to me.

How naïve I was. The truth is, Downer’s album is actually very generic, with the aforementioned single being one of very few highlights. The “huge rock stars” themselves probably all ended up working in Walmart or something. Downer’s sound is very, very typical of nu metal at the time, and I imagine they were snapped up by their record label simply for being associated with the genre.

The “few highlights” I mentioned above, include ‘Flex’, ‘Punching Bag’ and ‘Born Again’, which all have decent enough riffs and powerful vocals, but are sadly easily dismissible amongst an album full of plodding, nu metal repetition. The sad reality, is that this album came out at the absolute peak of nu metal, and considering that they were competing against bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Korn, Slipknot, System of a Down and Disturbed, Downer just simply didn’t stand a chance.

Finland's Satanic Warmaster is a solo black metal project of Lauri Penttilä, aka Werwolf, who is ex-vocalist of Horna (as Nazgul) and the current lead vocalist with Vargrav, amongst a million other projects. I haven't heard all of SW's releases, but what I have heard has a fair bit of disparity in quality, particularly due to quite a wide variation in production. "Exultation of Cruelty" isn't too bad as far as the production goes, but it certainly isn't the crispest, clearest black metal you will ever hear, exhibiting some degree of muddiness that does blunt the sound a little. The reverb is also set very high and impacts the clarity further.

Music-wise the playbook for most of the tracks sees them lurching from mid-paced, kind-of-melodic black metal riffing to more savage sounding blasting, these switches in pacing providing a dynamic impetus to the tracks that gives the impression of song progression even though there is a fair bit of repetition in the riffing. Occasionally the repetition just reaches the point of outstaying its welcome when, thankfully, Werwolf inserts one of these dynamic shifts and in so doing hits the refresh button before things become tedious. The tracks are actually quite lengthy for this conventional style of black metal, most hitting the 7-9 minute mark, timings more usual in the atmospheric black metal world, so he actually does a pretty good job of preventing staleness from setting in.

The playing is fairly precise, exhibiting none of the sloppiness that poor production values and excessive reverb sometimes attempts to mask and it is evident that Werwolf is a guy immersed in the black metal scene who just "gets" what it is about and how to deliver it in an authentic and uncomplicated manner. There are no surprises here, but rather a well-conceived and executed album of fairly straightforward black metal. If you are looking for a challenge in your black metal listening then you would be best served looking elsewhere, but if you just love the old-school black metal ethos and aesthetic then get ready for an hour of leather and spikes, unholy blasphemy and spitting in the eye of "the Man".