Berserks - Berserks (1982)^{Release ID: 14929}

This album has 3 weaknesses. The playing is a bit sloppy at times, the production is bad, and the vocalist can be rather grating.

Those things aside, the album is one of the greatest of it's era. The music itself sounds similar to (and is on par with) Maiden in terms of melody and riffs, and is actually heavier and faster than anything they had done at the time. This is one of the only albums before Thrash broke out in '83 to have moments of nonstop, pounding double bass drumming on more than one song, and I think only Venom had them matched in terms of how frequently they employed this technique.

If this band was from England and took advantage of the NWOBHM boom at the time, I have no doubt they would have sealed a record deal quite easily with this material and gone on to be revered as one of the founding fathers of Speed metal. Unfortunately, they broke up after this release went nowhere in their home of France, and have been forgotten by all but underground enthusiasts. While their weaknesses can't be ignored, they definitely deserve credit for what seemed like unmatched potential that was unfortunately never realized.