Samson - Head On (1980)^{Release ID: 3967}

Samson’s 1979 debut album “Survivors” didn’t exactly set the world on fire. But the band didn’t give up & recruited a new vocalist in Bruce Bruce (aka future Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson) for 1980’s follow-up album “Head On” which saw them sporting a brand new four-piece lineup. "Head On" also features quite an iconic NWOBHM album cover featuring drummer Thunderstick’s leather-clad stage persona wearing a gimp mask & holding a large scythe. Thunderstick’s drumming is probably the highlight performance for me & I’m not surprised that Iron Maiden tried to get him back into the fold around this time.

Apparently most of this material was written in the first six days of Bruce Bruce's tenure in the band & he makes a huge difference to the overall professionalism & marketability of Samson. Bruce's natural talent & charisma provides just the boost that the band had been crying out for & his more epic delivery makes some of these songs sound genuinely anthemic. His performance certainly isn’t perfect though & I think it would be fair to say that he doesn’t sound completely comfortable with the material at times.  Despite this, there are some wonderfully memorable choruses here along with some pretty great song-writing & a fair amount of variety in style. Unfortunately there are also a few obvious duds that let the rest of the record down a bit.

Samson’s sound never completely indulges itself in heavy metal. Hard rock is always there in equal portions with the likes of Deep Purple being an obvious influence. Especially in Bruce’s vocal delivery which is quite reminiscent of Ian Gillan at times. The production isn’t ideal with the drum sound lacking bass & being far too high in the mix. The guitar sound is also very thin. 

"Head On" is a good couple of steps up from the debut & is definitely worth checking out for fans of Iron Maiden & the NWOBHM in general. It’s not a classic release for the movement as some people seem to think though.