Side A:
Side B:
Not that Malaysian Metal is on the radar of the majority of obscure 80's HM exhumists or anything, but I am still a bit surprised I've never heard anyone rave about this one before. What we have here is dead-on one of the top-5 Malay HM essentials! "B-b-b-but isn't half the album just shitty ballads? Helloooo.. Malaysia?". Mostly yes, but we're gonna more or less ignore those for most of the Malaysian reviews here at The Corroseum. Just repeat after me:
There are no full-lenght albums from Malaysia.
There are only Mini-LPs with icky, gooey stuffing.
There. Now you can enjoy this scene as much as any other, because there really aren't that many differences. There's good releases, bad releases, softy shit, heavy shit, ultra-super-duper-rare stuff, merely very-rare stuff and everything inbetween (like the band's "Gempak" debut from 1988 for instance, a decent but very mixed affair suffering from an awfully thin production).
This particular release is one of the heavier, better produced ones and right from the start we're hammered to the floor with the glorious Omen/Brocas Helm/Griffin-tasting "Mahound Dunia", a piece furious Olde Power Metal of a weight and magnitude very seldom heard from their countrymen. A few minutes later comes the excellent Speedmetallic shortie "Raja Rock" (Yay! Not a Token R'n'R song!) and the momentum continues with the pounding "Pyramid", reminding of the heavier, moodfilled moments of Metal Church or Hades. Ending the streak of Metal perfection is the Maidenesque "Gipsi Kalena", probably my fave track of the album.
There's a few other glimpses of goodness among the "stuffing" as well, like the half'n'half ballad/Heavymetaller "Ibu / Anak Jalanan", the more Heavy-Rock/NWOBHM-style "Irama Ku", the stumbling but pleasantly peculiar "Perintha" and last but not least the title track, that while a traditional ballad still comes w/ an unusually catchy and memorable chorus.
Now do the math and you'll discover you've got yourself something as rare as a Malasyan 8 - s o n g - f u l l - l e n g t h - a l b u m ! *shock*