Killer - Ready for Hell (1980)^{Release ID: 5066}

Having only formed in early 1980, Belgian heavy metallers Killer were incredibly quick to get out of the blocks with their debut studio album "Ready For Hell" being released later on the same year. This significantly underground first-up effort hasn't exactly gone on to international success however it does represent the first noteworthy metal release to come out of Belgium.

Killer contained a three-piece lineup with the guitarist & bassist sharing the vocal duties; bassist Spooky sporting a gruff Lemmy-style approach & guitarist Shorty offering a more accessible clean delivery. The production is very good for a debut release & the performances are all very solid too. A strong Motorhead influence is obvious throughout with hard rockin’ biker metal being the order of the day & the various band members sporting the mandatory handle-bar moustaches & leather biker gear to match the Motorhead theme. In fact, Killer were probably a little more obviously metal than Motorhead’s 70’s material though there’s definitely some blues & 50’s rock ‘n’ roll influence going on as well at times. I can hear a bit of KISS here & there too.

I like the sound & energy on display here but unfortunately the song-writing is fairly weak most of the time with only a few songs really appealing to me & I can’t say that I genuinely love any of them. The opening title track is probably the pick of the bunch & seems to be heavily influenced by Judas Priest’s “Rapid Fire” & Motorhead’s “Ace Of Spades”. Killer have gone on to release another six full-length albums to date but I can't say that I'm compelled to investigate them based on this initial effort which may not be horrible but is certainly a little flat.