This is a very interesting project put together by Shrapnel’s Mike Varney back in ’86. Mike Varney has always been a huge supporter of all things metal, and his US Metal compilations were fantastic for metal hungry fans such as myself. The original name for this project was Mars (after the initials for each of the members), but in the end they decided to go with their names instead. Tony MacAlpine on guitar, Tommy Aldridge on drums, Rob Rock on vocals, and Rudy Sarzo on bass. Other than Rob Rock, they were very familiar to metal fans as they were all in big bands or had successful solo careers.
This is an awesome representation of killer melodic 80’s metal with some superb playing from MacAlpine. Rob Rocks vocals are huge and every song is an anthem with big sing-a-long style chorus’ and massive hooks. Nations On Fire blows the cobwebs off straight away at a seriously fast pace. Nostradamus is a monster epic piece with a very grandiose keyboard intro by MacAlpine, and a guitar riff very reminiscent of early Ozzy. Unknown Survivor is probably my favourite on the album as it rips along at a killer pace with an epic riff and vocal – a speed metal monster. Fantasy and Slave To My Touch are more melodic rock than metal, and reflect more of what was popular in the hair rock zone of the time.
It would have been interesting if this had become a full time band to see where they would have gone, but I guess when you are well paid hired hands it’s hard to give up that pay cheque. A great album, and if you’re a fan of eighties rock and metal it’s a must have.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
