I've
discovered so many great, old Metal albums from Italy this last year.
I know I'm stating the obvious here, but Italy had one of Europe's best
scenes in the 80's and I urge anyone to take a deep dive into the wonderful
world of Italiano Steel. One of my absolute favourites so far is U.T.'s
blistering debut 12" "Heavy & Dangerous". It's nothing outstanding as
far as production or musicianship goes, but who cares about such trivial
matters when they write songs so catchy they leave scars on the inside
of your skull? I had their theme song playing in my head for weeks after
first hearing this album. Perhaps even stronger is the phenomenal "The
Voice In The Darkness" with some really neat tempo-changes. Both these
songs display a level of catchiness you only ever hear from old obscure,
heavier NWOBHM single-bands like SPARTA,
OVERDRIVE, TURBO,
REINCARNATE etc, i.e. a healthy approach to actual HM songwriting rather than posing
with the right clichés. On the other side of things... "Headbanger" (pronounced
[heddah-bangah] in case you didn't know) is a rather straight forward
metal song with some fine riffing. Almost, but not quite on par with the
hits on side A. "Freedom.." sets an end to this great album in the form
of a heavy ballad which isn't half as bad as it could have been. It also
sets an end to UT as a band to look out for. 1 year later they released
their 1st and last full-lenght LP "
Hard Incursion" and it's quite a let-down.
Despite a handful of decent songs, it's ruined by terrible production
and weak guitars. By the way, did anyone take a good look at the line-up
above? Guess not, so check again. Yes, that's the same Mario Di Donato
who formed Minotauro Records' cult doomsters REQUIEM and later THE BLACK,
also known as The Meanest Looking Bastard Ever! Another reason why this
rare, brilliant album is an essential collectors item.
Originally written in German. Translate to:
Schöne Vier-Track-Mini, das Debüt von Unreal Terror. Recht flotter Metal, etwas dünn produziert, mit schönen Refrains und Melodien. Der Sänger ist gut, die Gitarrenarbeit auch - was will man mehr?
Sehr guter italienischer Heavy Metal. Besser als der Nachfolger und mit sehr eingängigen Songs. Die LP ist sehr rar, die CD auch auf 300 limitiert.
Fine, typical Italian Heavy Metal! Good songs, good vocalist! The title track is very catchy and a real underground classic! Some NWoBHM influences. Really recommended!
