Review by Daniel for Samson - Shock Tactics (1981)

1980’s “Head On” album was a major step up for London NWOBHM band Samson following a fairly uneventful beginning to their recording career. 1979’s “Survivors” may have been one of the earliest releases in the New Wave however it wasn’t exactly brimming full of quality either. In fact, I’ve never had much time for it & it certainly didn’t have much to do with metal. But the recruitment of a budding young singer by the name of Bruce Bruce (more commonly known as Bruce Dickinson, the legendary front man from Iron Maiden’s golden era) signaled a major change in fortunes for Samson & the future looked very bright. “Head On” also showcased a much more metal sound than the debut & I quite enjoyed it overall. 

The follow-up “Shock Tactics” was released almost a year later & it features the same four-piece lineup as “Head On”. This time though Samson recruited experienced sound man Tony Platt to produce the record which was a major plus for the band. Tony had previously cut his teeth engineering records from the likes of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, AC/DC, Bob Marley & Foreigner so he would surely add some much needed professionalism to the sessions. And you can certainly tell although the production still isn’t perfect. The rhythm guitars have a definite hint of the AC/DC crunch that Platt helped achieve on albums like “Highway To Hell” & “Black In Black” & there’s a nice live warmth to the recording however I do think that the overall mix lacks a little bit of brightness.

From a musical point of view I’m not sure that “Shock Tactics” is a metal record. There are three songs that are clearly metal tracks but at least five of the other six songs fit much more comfortably under the hard rock tag in my opinion. There’s quite a bit of variety on display just like Samson’s previous material with a fair bit of bluesy content scattered across the tracklisting in particular. Bruce’s performance is the main focal point of course, even if he’s not quite as brilliant as he would be on Maiden’s classic material. In fact I’m led to believe that Bruce’s performance on the closing track on “Shock Tactics” (the gentle ballad entitled “Communion”) is what encouraged Steve Harris to pursue Dickinson for Paul Dianno’s empty vocal position in Iron Maiden. Barry “Thunderstick” Purkis puts in another entertaining display behind the kit while guitarist & band leader Paul Samson does what he does best. His style is certainly not clean & clinical. He relies much more on just sounding cool than anything else. You can detect plenty of mistakes in his playing & nothing sounds overly polished. He’s got more of a dirty live feel & I quite enjoy the honesty & authenticity of his playing.

“Shock Tactics” has some great moments with a few really solid highlight tracks topped off by a classic NWOBHM opener. Unfortunately it’s not all gold here though with the tracklisting tainted by a couple of duds too. “Nice Girl” is a real problem for me & it’s that bad that it probably effects my overall opinion of the record. It’s definitely one of the reasons that I prefer “Head On” to this album but “Shock Tactics” is not that far behind it to be honest. If you’re a fan of the NWOBHM or hard rock & heavy metal in general then I’d be surprised if you don’t find some enjoyment in “Shock Tactics”. It’s a pretty good record as far as I’m concerned with the amazing opening track “Riding With The Angels” being the clear highlight. It’s actually a cover version of a track from English AOR performer Russ Ballard’s 1980 album “Barnet Dogs” only it’s been thoroughly metallicized & is a much better version than the original. That’s hardly surprising though because you won’t find a better singer than Bruce Dickinson for delivering it’s anthemic & highly addictive chorus. If you like Bruce’s solo material then this song sounds like it could have been pulled straight off one of those records.