Breaking the Chains

After vocalist supplied backup belting on ' scorcher , producer gave him leftover studio time to produce demos. Guitarist , drummer , and bassist (who immediately left to form ) rounded out the rockin' . Combining Teutonic thunder with Sunset Strip sensibilities, the band began carving out a comfortable niche in the '80s market with this release, soon remixed and remastered for proper distribution by . The quartet's debut slings cliches fast and furious, but the shopworn staples seem bearable because the playing is at peak form. Opener remains a perennial (forever linked to the accompanying apocalyptic video wherein and the boys, well, break the chains). The remainder of side one, while unremarkable, still sticks to the ribs after only a couple of spins. Side two begins to lag until the sizzling final cut, the live (originally a studio track called "Paris"), erupts into flames through the phenomenal fretwork of dazzling axe-god , a legend from an era with no shortage of six-string-heroes. After intense glory in the daze, splintered into several dysfunctional side projects, tainting the band's solid '80s output. Everything started with this record, which remains an enjoyable, if not essential, slab of competent corporate . ~ Whitney Z. Gomes