Metal Reviews

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I can't believe this got a 65.I would say around 80 maybe because I was into Firehouse a lot more.

Hold Your Fire however was their best album.

Yeah, Hold Your Fire might be their best album. The debut is solid, but the cheese was layered on pretty thick, which made some songs just a bit too...um...cheesy. Haha.

Still, they've remained a solid rock band over the years. 3 was a bit on the mellow side, but Category 5, 02 (aside from the ridiculous raprock-like "The Dark"), and Prime Time are great albums. This band is the real deal, no matter how many jokes people make.

You know I miss that era so much.I mean you can look back and say damn I used to listen to bands like that and laugh but those were the good ol days where you can listen to bands like Cinderella,Whitesnake and others and not be embarrassed because everyone else was listening to the same thing. It was an era where you can just let go and have fun and enjoy the ride.

Boy there was some good times there

Exactly! It was FUN! Music isn't fun anymore. It's angry, or way too serious, or stupid; it's not fun anymore. I mean, people fucking MOSH at Dave Matthews Band shows these days! Come on. That's lame. The best time for music was in the 80s. The fans have ruined that since.

Not a bad point Ken. Saw these fuckers open for Def Leppard on one of their tours, is was Prob 91, good time. I miss Tesla sometimes too.

A lot of the 80's stuff was total shit, especially after the first big wave and firs 2 or 3 albums from said bands but there was some good metal out there. You can the exact same thing for the thrash bands as well. Although my tastes had changed by 86 and i found heavier froms of Heavy Metal that I liked certain albums by bands like Dokken. Crue, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Great White, Ratt and even the first Bon Jovi album are still great to me. Plus I love LA Guns and Faster Pussycat too.

Each to his own, but I just totally don't get you people who prefer Hold Your Fire to s/t. Aside from an insanely great opening track in Reach for the Sky, HYF is to me like a carbon copy of their debut, but with just about every single hook stripped away. Granted, I've only listened to it like maybe five times, but this isn't exactly inaccessible music we're talking about here so I feel I'm pretty much done with trying to get into it by now. The epitome of "sophomore slump" in my book.

Anyways, I absolutely worship this album. Some fillers abound, yes, but the highlights alone make this a top 25 of all time album for me. Has just that super-slick late 80's/early 90's L.A. glam rock sound that I love more than any other, just the type of truly ridiculous stuff that made it easy for grunge to take over a couple of years later. And Rock on the Radio I actually consider the second best song on here after Shake and Tumble; no, not that original or musically impressive, but it just fucking DRIPS with party atmosphere. YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH *guitar slide* DUUUUUUUUUUUN DUUUUN

I agree that there were some crappy bands releasing albums back then, but that's the case when any "style" hits the mainstream. Labels try to make a buck and sign anyone. Some of those bands, however, are still putting out some great albums. Bust A Nut and Into The Now from Tesla are perfect examples. Slaughter, though they haven't put anything out since 1999, continued to release solid albums. After a couple of turdfests, Warrant's latest album is excellent. Firehouse is still releasing great albums, too, like I mentioned. Winger's latest album was excellent, too. Shit, even the latest Steelheart EP is great!

But aside from some older bands still doing the genre justice, new bands are also releasing some great shit. Trixie, Miss Crazy, Overloaded, Bombay Black, and a bunch of other bands are putting out some damn good 80s-styled rock albums.

That has got to be the worst CD-cover I've ever seen.

"Reach For The Sky" is, indeed, a great opening track. But still, Hold Your Fire has some excellent tunes, bro! "Hold Your Fire" and "Hold The Dream" are two of my favorite Firehouse songs. And I don't think there's a bad song on the album. And "When I Look Into Your Eyes"—come on, bro; 50 million weddings can't be wrong!

Definitely no slump of an album in my eyes.

You're blind.

Thanks for stopping by.

If I were blind I would not be able to read your post, so what was the point in writing it?

Arguably worse. If anything, it's just as cheesy.

What's wrong with Set now?
At least that was not a two minute Photochop.

No. It's a late 90s CGIchop that wasn't cool in the early 90s. Now, care to discuss 80s rock?

Damn I miss the original Headbangers Ball on MTV.I always looked forward to saturday nights just to watch that show and see some of my fav bands play some of their videos and even see new bands get their upstart.

WAAF here on Saturday nights has the Hair Ball where they play all 80s rock and metal. It's fucking awesome!

VH1 Classic has Metal Mania a couple times a week, which is basically stuff that was played on the old Headbanger's Ball - everything from old Slayer to Firehouse. It's fun. if I have to bring up the new Headbanger's Ball though, I might puke

Come to think of it, it's actually quite a decent album for what it is. It's just that the first album holds a really special place in my heart and when the follow-up to an album like that is such a considerable step down, I tend to make such exaggerations as "every hook stripped away". But it does feel more generic and less memorable as whole to me.

As for "When I Look Into Your Eyes", I possibly prefer it to any of the ballads on the s/t actually, but it does have a more than passing resemblance to "When I See You Smile", plus that one piano riff that's straight out of Tina Turner's "The Best".

Just a quick question while we are on the subject of 80's metal and seeing that you like VVI what album do you prefer their first one or All Systems Go?