Alkana

‘Welcome to My Paradise’ is widely hailed as one of the gems of the late 1970s US hard rock scene. While it is a very strong release in many aspects, I gotta say that I think the album is somewhat overhyped. An album can be both good and overhyped at the same time. Let me make my case…..

The album’s strong points are well-documented. It features cool cover art, a great production job giving the music a very loud, full sound, and sterling performances featuring hotshot guitar heroics and the vocal stylings of one Jack Rucker, better known to metal aficionados as Damien King I, the singer on Warlord’s ‘Deliver Us’ release. The energy level of the album is overall pretty high, and it showcases how hard rock was starting to transition in the late 1970s away from the long, slow, sometimes dull sounds of previous years to a more energetic, vibrant style as the 1980s approached. For my money, the best comparison is the Spike LP, ‘The Price of Pleasure’, which featured a young Dave Chastain. I can’t undersell the sound quality here; my original copy (humble brags) is very worn- like VG- worn- and it STILL sounds great on my turntable.

‘The Tower’ is THE track that the album is famous for, and it is an impressive one at that. 11+ minutes filled with memorable time changes and hooks a’ plenty. It’s not quite on the level of ‘Stargazer’ (what is?) but it’s getting there. But wait, there’s more! The album includes two other tracks that often get overshadowed by ‘The Tower’ (sorry, couldn’t resist that one). ‘On Our Own’ is the tale of the band telling the Big Labels to go stick it, that “we don’t need your loan”. Lyrically it’s kinda passé, but the song has a great, catchy, rolling structure that makes it immensely fun to listen to. The real hidden gem, however, is ‘Paradise’. The frantic, almost spooky, opening guitar work gives you the sense that you’re going deep down the rabbit hole on this track, and the frantic energy creates a real tension throughout the entire song. It’s an outstanding number and deserves to be mentioned right alongside ‘The Tower’ in terms of highlights. Any album containing these three songs is gonna receive high praise, and rightly so.

But after those three songs, the album drops off significantly, which is why I feel the album is overrated by many commentators. While the songs all benefit from the bright, loud production, there’s no hiding the fact that tunes such as ‘California Rock and Roll Queen’ and ‘Freedom Lady’ are firmly rooted in the earlier 1970s approach to hard rock- they emit a more laid-back, groovy vibe that was already falling out of favor by 1978 as New Wave and more exciting rock bands started stealing the spotlight. Let’s face it, most folks who witnessed that 1978 world tour with Van Halen opening for Black Sabbath knew exactly which band represented the future of rock and which represented the past. Back to Alkana: ‘Head Games’ (gee, I wonder what this song is gonna be about) comes up empty, and ‘Montezuma’s Sweet Revenge’ is laughably bad. For some reason the band decided this tune needed a ridiculously over the top vocal delivery that makes the song feel like a parody.

So in the end, what do we have? A great sounding album with 2 outstanding tracks, 1 good track, but also 4 tracks that I’m more than happy to skip over every time I play the album. That’s why I feel the album is overhyped; it’s definitely worth checking out for the good songs, but there are a lot of misfires in the track list. Personally, I don’t think I could justify paying the enormous price tag to upgrade my very worn OG copy, so one of the reissues will probably suffice for me. Do check it out but decide for yourself whether it deserves the Mythic status that many people give it just because it includes ‘The Tower’.

This record is legendary and sought after by epic metal collectors although it contains pure hard rock. The reason is that the vocalist of ALKANA is Jack Rucker who's more known by the nicname Damien King I. Yes, this is the guy that sang to WARLORD's 'Deliver us'' MLP and as you can guess the vocals is the strongest point of this band. The songs are very good but the highlight is the amazing 11-minute 'The tower' where it starts with a melodic intro and then contnues with amazing heavy riffs. For those that like this style this is an essential LP.