Q5 - Steel the Light (1984)^{Release ID: 10318}

There was a bit of a minor scene happening in Seattle in the mid-1980's with bands like Q5, TKO, Culprit, Nightshade & Mistrust all floating around & often sharing members. "Steel The Light" is the most highly regarded release to come out of that lot & sees Q5 approaching NWOBHM-style heavy metal & an AC/DC-inspired brand of hard rock in equal measure. Jonathan Scott K's powerful vocals are well suited to this kind of music & the presence of guitarist Floyd Rose (yes, the man behind the locking nut/floating tremolo system) won't be lost on the guitarists out there. The album is very much a tale of two halves with the majority of the metal material appearing on the A side & the more commercially accessible tracks filling the B side. That B side does include a couple of duds in the AOR-infused glam metal ballad "Come & Gone" & the generic AC/DC-plagiarizing "Rock On" but the rest of the album is quite entertaining, particularly the classic title track which draws upon lumbering Dio-fronted metal anthems like "Heaven & Hell" & "Holy Diver" for influence. I also really enjoy the catchy closer "Teenage Runaway" which sees the album finishing on a high & will have you singing along in your head for hours afterward. If you like heavy rockers like Krokus, Pretty Maids & Culprit then you'll no doubt find a bit to like about "Steel The Light".