METAL FORCES – Issue 3 Magazine Cover (1984) « Previous Cover Next Cover »

SLAYERShow No Mercy Metal Blade (1983)Rating: 9/10 The final weeks of 1983 saw the release of this… one of the heaviest, fastest, most awesome albums of all time! Side one contains two Satanical mayhem classics – the 100mph opener ‘Evil Has No Boundaries’ and closer ‘Metal Storm / Face The Slayer’, which has a great […]

TALASLive Speed On Ice Combat (1984)Rating: 8/10 In case you’ve never heard the name before, Talas is the band formed by bass player extraordinaire Billy Sheehan. You might remember Sheehan from his short stint with UFO about a year ago? The band has the right idea releasing a live album, because the energy they release […]

GRIM REAPERSee You In Hell Ebony (1983)Rating: 9/10 Another end of year release that pulverised its way to the top five of my “Best of ’83” list. This is a pretty well surprising record in view of past output by Grim Reaper. If someone had told me at the beginning of 1983 that I would […]

KILLERShock Waves Mausoleum (1984)Rating: 9/10 This is the Belgian’s third album and there can be no doubt that Shock Waves is a worthy follow-up to the band’s highly acclaimed Wall Of Sound album. In the past, Killer have been labelled as Belgium’s answer to Motörhead. Well, those influences can be no more evident than on […]

GLORY BELLSCentury Rendezvous S.O.S. (1984)Rating: 7/10 Sweden is fast becoming a breeding ground for class metal practitioners with plenty of bands – although not all as yet recognised – showing ability and promise to gain major success. In truth, the Glory Bells band were well out of my reckoning within the “Scandinavian Militia” due to […]

THE RODSLive Music For Nations (1983)Rating: 8/10 The Rods are my kinda band, true rockin’ rollers in every sense of the word. Unlike today’s 17-year-old poser boy bands, whose biggest worry is to find a new pair of leg warmers to match their spandex, The Rods grind out their brand of metal with ‘Cold Sweat […]

OVERKILL Power In Black (1983) This four-piece band from New Jersey have been in existence since 1978 and play the hard, fast and aggressive power metal that is currently so popular with the global hardcore clan; although Overkill themselves like to use the term “blood metal” to describe their particular form of mayhem. Founding members […]

HELSTARBurning Star Combat (1984)Rating: 9/10 Having produced one of the best demos of 1983, Helstar have come up trumps again. With the help of Carl Canedy of The Rods doing the production, these boys from Houston can’t seem to put a foot wrong and have yet another winner. Side one’s opener, ‘Burning Star’, starts off […]

BROCAS HELMInto Battle First Strike (1984)Rating: 7/10 Some of you out there may already be familiar with Brocas Helm through their official demo release, Into Battle, last year. Well, this vinyl version contains the same five tracks featured on the demo together with five new numbers. Unfortunately, ‘Metallic Fury’ is a very disappointing opener. Although […]