It's
safe to say that SYE's debut LP "Turn On The Fire" were one
of Metal Blade's more forgettable releases. Not that it totally sucked
syphilitic baboon dick (like PREDATOR for instance), but despite a decent,
classic 80's Metal sound, their songs were utterly plain. It's an ever
reoccurring irony that that the band managed to release a minor masterpiece
all by themselves 3 years later, which so few people got a chance to hear
at the time. Unlike their bargain-bin debut this album was poorly distributed
outside of Canada and has until recently been quite tricky to get hold
of. Kudos to the global vinyl mafia for digging up a box of this killer
release and spreading it throughout the globe!
So what happened in the 3 years between the 2 albums? While there's no
info to be found on the web (not even RockDetector had them in their data
base), you can draw some conclusions just by comparing the 2 albums:
- They got a new, proper lineup. (The debut only had 2 names credited,
smelling like a studio project/band-in-the-making)
- They obviously had their share of trouble and bs through the years,
which only seem to have increased their determination and spirit. (judging
by the 'thanks to'- (no one) and 'fuck off'- (plenty) sections on the
credits of "Wings..")
- They got harder, heavier and significantly better song writers.
The appropriately named "Born Again" is a real face-pounding
hammer - no -
turbo charged power tool of Pure Fucking Speed Power
Metal Mayhem! I can honestly not remember ever hearing such an aggressive
cut on a classic Metal record. Add some growling vox and they'd be jamming
in hell w/ BATHORY or SADUS. The double-bass-drum injection of "Do
Or Die" and the oozing aah's of "Take Cover" is a great
intermission before another highlight, their superb take on SWEET's "Fox
On The Run", which they brilliantly manage to incorporate into their
own sound. And then there's The Exceptional "Run Wild" - A real
Power Metal Scorcher! One of those trax that instantly makes you wanna
start compiling a mix-tape/cdr for the next Keep It True-festival trip,
with this one as the opener! The following title track is the album's
2nd instrumental, which impress a whole lot more than the average "Strings"
on side A, with it's cool melodic riffing and keyboard harmonies. Then,
instead of throwing in the predictable fillers at the end of the record,
we get the powerful WASP-tinged "Sooner Or Later" followed by
another ultra-fast, aggressive shitkicker called "Speed Master".
OK, so they often get so close to ANVIL-territory that the infamous "clone"-moniker
springs to mind, especially on the speedier trax, but they do it so bloody
well I couldn't care less. I definitely prefer Mr. Carlos as a Lips-impersonator
on this album, rather than his nasal screeching on their 1st LP. Buy this
baby when you see it. Period.
Originally written in German. Translate to:
Eine ganze Ecke härter ging es auf "Winds of Change" zur Sache. Teilweise schon an Speed Metal reichende Power-Songs mit viel Melodie und ein schönes Cover machen auch das Zweitwerk zu einem kaufbaren Album. Leider hat die Sache einen Haken: es handelt sich um eine Privatpressung, so dass bei Interesse etwas mehr zu zahlen ist. Musikalisch geht das aber in Ordnung.