Krokus - Heart Attack (1988) [Warner-Pioneer, 32XD-946, Japan]

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Krokus - Heart Attack (1988) [Warner-Pioneer, 32XD-946, Japan]

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Heart Attack is the tenth studio album by the Swiss hard rock band Krokus, and is described by the band as "the last attempt to keep the band together in a deep crisis". As well as being the band's first album on MCA Records, it saw the return of original Krokus founding member Chris von Rohr. The track "Rock 'n' Roll Tonight" was a live hit, and is still played by the band in concerts.

~ wiki

After the disheartening ‘Change of Address’ addressed the fact that shitty big record company execs should back off and let heavy metal bands make heavy metal, Krokus parted ways with the overbearing Arista Records, released a live album, and two years later, offered up ‘Heart Attack’ a much, much heavier, and better album which got the band back to it’s true core; heavy fucking metal. The band negotiated a deal with MCA Records, another large company, a deal that would let them keep greater creative control, and it is realized in a much heavier and all-round kickass album that showed the band still had grapes. In addition, Chris Rohr, an early guitarist with the band, with whom they had penned ‘Hardware’ and ‘One Vice’ helped the band get back to its roots, and ended up resulting in the album being its heaviest offering since the phenomenal ‘Headhunter’

Right from the get-go, it’s as if Krokus feels they have something to prove. Reading the reviews, and hearing opinions on an album that they themselves were never happy with, and put down to sheer interference, they seem desperate to get back out there, and kickass – with a new lineup that gets them back to their roots, as well as a new record deal which frees the band up to write kickass, heavy metal music that had won them so many fans, and a gold album in the United States, as well as success in Europe. The overall style of the album is much heavier than anything since 1983, with Krokus drawing closer in sound comparison to bands like Judas Priest, rather than just the AC/DC comparison, or the Giuffria-like sound on the previous record.

‘Wild Love’ is a powerful track, but even more powerful is the killer speed metal attack ‘Axe Attack’, which gets things closer to Accept. Right away we have much more metal subject matter and song title, as well as an awesome thundering feel in the rhythm section, which in the chorus, when coupled with Storace’s outlandish screams, sounds like Judas Priest. This one is just pure, aggressive heavy metal through and through, with a solo that is reminiscent of Glen Tipton, and K.K. Downings work, very shredding and utterly aggressive. It seems as though Krokus wanted to write their heaviest song since ‘Headhunter’ to prove to their loyal fans they weren’t sellouts and were still a metal band at heart; it worked.

At times, they still have that AC/DC feel though. The intro and guitar tone of ‘Shoot Down the Night’ establishes this straight away, and this feel continues right through the whole song, and as we all know, Storace sounds incredibly like a couple of AC/DC’s vocalists. Even the title of this song reminds me of ‘Shot Down in Flames’ by said band. In any case, the production job on this one is very heavy and massive, even if it is classic rock identical to AC/DC. Elsewhere, although less prominent than in their other works (especially ‘One Vice at a Time’ ) the AC/DC feel can still be found in tracks like ‘Everybody Rocks’, but that doesn’t mean this track doesn’t kick ass. In any case, this type of material sounds very much like their classic stuff, and is a 100% improvement over the last album

This album is awesome and the heaviest thing they had done in ages. It’s a relief for those who thought the band was finished after the lame previous record, that the band resurrected themselves, and crafted something really awesome. The attempt at re-connecting with their roots is obvious – not only their early guitarist Rohr, but re-recording a version of ‘Winning Man’ from their 1981 album ‘Hardware’ and using a mixture of material that includes speed metal attacks, and massive bombastic anthems like ‘Let it Go’ which are absolutely great examples of their classic sound. Their knack for crafting these anthems is incredible, and this song has an amzing hook you can’t help but sing along to. Though it was hard for the band to capitalize commercially on this record, due to the fickle tastes of the music market, who were busy lapping up Bon Jovi, this album impressed long-time fans, and slayed all other hard rock in it’s path. This album is made even better by the existence of its predecessor, because it’s somewhat of an (incredibly) pleasant surprise. Killer effort reminiscent of their opus ‘Headhunter’.

by DeathRiderDoom, metal-archives

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Krokus - Heart Attack (1988) [Warner-Pioneer, 32XD-946, Japan]

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Krokus - Heart Attack (1988) [Warner-Pioneer, 32XD-946, Japan]

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