After the initial burst, the NWOBHM was starting to diminish somewhat, so it was back to America in my search for killer new tunes – Mike Varney and his label Shrapnel Records provided just the fix I was looking for. Mike loves his metal, but he also loves hotshot guitar players and that was the perfect match for me.
The album starts off with the band Chumbi playing the title track with a great guitar player in Em Kay. Killer track! Look Into The Light is next up by Exxe who remind me of mid-era Ted Nugent. Of course there are tracks that don’t cut it and No Time by the Giles Meblin Assault is one of those tracks. There are some now familiar names also added to the line up here, namely The Rods whose first album made a big impression on me, with their track Gettin’ Higher. For Van Halen fans there is a track by Reddi Killowatt who played the same back yard party scene around Pasadena that the Van Halen’s did, and guitarist Terry Kilgore would later play with Dave Lee Roth’s solo band.
I look on this the same as the Metal For Mutha’s compilation’s in the UK, as they gave a voice to unheard metal acts. I still play this a lot today as it’s a fun album to put on.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
