Tag: vengeance

This is album number two for one of Holland’s best hard rock exports. It was released back in ’86. Vengeance were a big deal in Holland and other parts of mainland Europe, but they seemed to struggle with the rest of the world.

They do remind me a bit of Saxon in their heyday, especially on songs like Dreamworld where singer Leon Goewie does a fine impression of Biff Byford. Power Of The Rock is one of my favourite tunes by the band as its NWOBHM influences are easy to spot, and the speedy riff and groove help.  

They don’t take themselves too seriously and the music is not gonna change the world, but that’s what good old hard rock and metal was all about in the eighties. It was something you could escape to after a hard days grind, and this is a perfect album to do just that. My favourite tune goes to Second To None, a fun uptempo rocker with a great riff and some killer guitar.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

Outside of their native Holland, this band’s main claim to fame was having Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Ayreon) as the their main man and founder, and he was there up until the band split up in ’92. This album was released in ’88, and is pretty much standard hair metal with a European slant.

The opening track is a decent opening track and rocks hard. The next track, Code Of Honour, is slower and suffers from having a kid’s choir singing part of the chorus – it’s just ok. Rock N Roll Shower follows and has a stock party rock riff and is not a bad tune. Take Me To The Limit rips in with a killer riff and some double kicks, and then descends into standard rock territory. Engines tries to be Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher, and is a nice metal instrumental with Lucassen showing everyone how good he is as a guitar player. This music is a million miles away from what he does now.

Side 2 starts with Hear Me Out, and its back to glam city we go with big chants and everything. Women In The World has the big acoustic intro before a very Scorpions style rocker breaks out. Looks Of A Winner is the most American sounding of all the tracks – you can tell the market they were aiming for. Last track, Ain’t Gonna Take You Home, actually had me thinking they were going to break out into Doctor Doctor by UFO – until the big chorus kicked in and it’s definitely Friday night rock night crowd pleaser.

7/10 from The Grooveman.