Description

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Check the video of the LP for sale!

Talon  Vicious Game
Label: Steamhammer   SH 0051
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Inner Sleeve with Lyrics Included
Country: Germany
Released: 1986
Genre: Hard Rock
Tracklist
A1 Intro
A2 Vicious Game
A3 Fever
A4 Hopeless Love
A5 Sunrise
A6 Head For Victory
B1 Fight For Justice
B2 Kings Or Fools
B3 Rough And Ready
B4 Push It
B5 So Cold

A side
1. Intro 01:03
2. Vicious Game 03:21
3. Fever 03:37
4. Hopeless Love 03:31
5. Sunrise 03:56
6. Head for Victory 03:43

B side
7. Fight for Justice 03:36
8. Kings or Fools 03:28
9. Rough and Ready 02:51
10. Push It 03:32
11. So Cold 04:53
37:31

Distributed By SPV GmbH 08-1888
Recorded At Tonstudio Hiltpoltstein
Mixed At Hartmann Digital

Arranged By Rainer Hänsel, Talon
Bass Andre Hammon*
Design [Cover] Wolfgang Sakowski
Drums Tommy Resch
Engineer, Mixed By Manni Neuner*
Lead Guitar Robbie Böbel
Lead Guitar, Vocals Uwe Hoffmann
Lead Vocals Peter Hader
Photography By Willi Weihreter*
Producer Rainer Hänsel
Written-By Günther Dzikowski* (tracks: A1), Talon (tracks: A2 to A6, B1 to B5)

Recorded and mixed August 1986.

Rights Society: GEMA
Label Code: LC 9002

These nails could pierce plate mail.
At some point after SPV picked up Talon, guitarist and vocalist Uwe Hoffmann decided to pull a Kai Hansen and relinquish his status as front man of a very promising yet not widely known heavy metal outfit. In some respects, an analogy to this band taking on their own Michael Kiske fits as Peter Hader has a much wider vocal range and fits the mid 80s German metal template a good bit better than Uwe had previously. Yet at the same time, the actual resulting sound here isn’t terribly far from where the band was previously, barring that it is slightly more posh and polished sounding, and does seem to be attempting at emulating the more successful acts that had been keeping the German end up since 1980.

Vicious Game is a somewhat vaguer title that doesn’t really seem to suggest much in the way of the bands new direction, but the album cover pretty well gives away that the bands previous imagery of an iron clad hero in shining armor has been revamped. This is an album that definitely plays up the sleaze factor something fierce, as Hader takes about just as many cues from the likes of Vince Neil and Brian Johnson as he does the gravely growl of Udo. Combined with an even more formulaic song writing set that is as enticingly atmospheric as Leatherwolf’s Street Ready yet as cutting as Accepts Russian Roulette, and this album has all of the right elements to play with the big boys of the day, though for some strange reason this never came to pass.

Song for song, this is easily the most accessible of Talons offerings, spending a good chunk of time nestled comfortably in a mid-paced rock groove and channelling imagery of thousands of lighters painting the world beyond the 4th wall of the arena stage. Rough And Ready and Fight For Justice are the most instantly memorable for their signature riff work and catchy chorus lines, while much of the bulk of the album tends to follow suit in a similar goal of fitting into a regular radio slot. The outliers consist of a heavily dense keyboard intro that is a bit uncharacteristic of this style and more in line with Helloween, alongside a pretty standard 80s power ballad in So Cold to close things out, a song that reminds heavily of Leatherwolf’s Hideaway. But the pinnacle of this albums strength hits like an iron fist in Kings Or Fools, a riveting speed metal song cut right from the Judas Priest mold and further charged with a nasty as hell vocal delivery out of Hader.

While the first two albums put out by this bunch seemed to be reaching for the less stylized aspects of the NWOBHM and blending them with a slightly larger sounding German interpretation, this album all but finds itself flirting with the LA sound a bit more, while also taking on some of the more mainstream glam ideas that Saxon and Tygers Of Pan Tang were dabbling with in the mid 80s. Its definitely thick and heavy enough to still be qualified as metal, but its definitely heavier on sleaze than it is on mystique; this being good or bad is obviously a subjective matter. Scavengers of all things 80s will probably go for it, but even a fan of mid 80s Accept should look into this album.

“Vicious Game” (1987) and the band’s previous release “Never Look Back” (1985) are pretty rare and tough to find.. These Germans definitely work the sleaze factor with Peter Hader(vox) doing his best Vince Neil meets the gravely growl of Udo (Accept). The opening title track has some pretty good riffage and catchy chorus lines with the stand out being the opening track. “Kings Or Fools”, is cut from the Judas Priest cloth. Decent production and worth a listen IMO.