Mark Terry

There are many ways to describe and quantify the rarity-level of a record. One fair and reasonable factor to weigh in is how present it is on various web platforms out there, and for an 80's traditional Heavy Metal 12" vinyl from Western Europe to still be missing in the Discogs database as of the summer of 2022, that's equals to pretty fucking rare in my book. Luckily/unfortunately Mr. Terry wasn't of American descent, but from from the significantly less collectable country of West Germany, and thus his private little 12" EP-product will neither be as cultified, overhyped nor expensive as any US Metal counterpart. The rather ugly sleeve would also be a contributing factor, and to a lesser extent, its musical mediocrity.

Ok, that sounded mean, but in a way Mark Terry's one and only vinyl release is spot-on the archetype of "German B-Metal". That's not to say it's too terribly flawed as far as musicianship, production, vocals etc goes, and it certainly isn't as sell-out/wimpy/semi-glammy as that artwork may give hints of, it just so... Bland. Making some band-comparisons is as easy as it is unsurprising: Gravestone, Accept, Mad Max, Running Wild, blah-blah, etc ...but probably even more so the lesser copies of these bands. Also there's something about the rhythm section that irks me. Most songs feel both stale and jerky at the same time - not in a cool Satanic-Robot-Metal-From-The-Eastern-Bloc kind of way, but more like in a we're-not-that-great-at-writing-tunes-yet manner. Ironically the one track that stands out and might stick in your mind, "Streetfighter", does so mostly on the merits of shamelessly ripping of some "2 Minutes to Midnight" bits.

So, while "R'n'R Weirdo" might not all-out suck balls, it's mostly made for true, die-hard, uncritical Teutonic Metal fans. Or completist collectors of Baton Rogue, Stranger and Paradox, as some connections are worth noting - read more at The Heavy Metal Mania...