Metal Health

4.5 stars - The first metal album to top the pop charts 2005-03-23 Metal Health (1983.) Quiet Riot's third album.

Formed in the mid-late seventies, the early metal group known as Quiet Riot released two albums in Japan. Unfortunately, the group split up, and guitarist Randy Rhoads joined the first incarnation of the Ozzy Osbourne band. Fellow Quiet Riot member, bassist Rudy Sarzo also joined a little bit later, Unfortunately, tragedy struck and Rhoads was killed after releasing just two albums with Ozzy. Sarzo decided to reform Quiet Riot. He rejoined with former vocalist Kevin DuBrow, and recruited guitarist Carlos Cavazo to fill Rhoads' slot. They also recruited a replacement drummer, Frankie Banali. And in 1983, the band released its THIRD album, Metal Health (this was their first album in America, but in all actuality it is their third. The first two were released in Japan only! Hope I cleared that up.) Let's get on to what matters - the album.

This is classic metal the way it was meant to be experienced. There's a reason this was the first metal album to top the charts - it flat out rules. Kicking things off is the title track. It's the band's second biggest hit, and what an excellent song it is. As the subtitle implies, this is a song you'll want to bang your head to. DuBrow's vocals are top notch, and nothing less. Cum On Feel The Noize, the band's biggest hit of all, is a cover of a Slade song. This is better than the original, and the added guitar solo gives Cavazo a chance to shine (I'm so sick of people saying Rhoads was better than him - they're equally good.) Don't Wanna Let You Go is the perfect medium between hard rock and a power ballad is this track. For some reason, this one reminds me of Triumph's Tears In The Rain, and that's a good thing. Once again, DuBrow couldn't sound better. Slick Black Cadillac was originally released on the Quiet Riot II album (released only in Japan), but the band decided to rerecord it with Cavazo on the guitar. This sounds like "seventies glam rock meets eighties hard rock", and it ultimately makes for a very pleasing track. Love's A Bitch is a slow and hard track that is nothing short of excellent. This cut is solid proof - hard rock doesn't need to be fast-paced to be good. It also proves that rock and roll songs with the word "bitch" in the title are always good. Breathless is one of the fast and frantic rockers so many eighties rock bands tried their hands at - and this is one of the best ones! Yet again, DuBrow's vocals steal the show (especially in the chorus.) Run For Cover is another hard rocker, similar to several eighties rockers. This is an excellent track, though it doesn't quite top the last one. Next up is an instrumental, Battle Axe. This track gives Cavazo another chance to shine, and he does. However, I've never been a huge fan of instrumentals, and this is probably the weakest cut here. However, it's still VERY far from bad. As for Let's Get Crazy, if Poison cared more about their music than their hair, they might have sounded a little something like this song sounds. I know I've beaten this statement to death in this review, but DuBrow's vocals are excellent (there's no such thing as overpraising this guy.)Closing things out is Thunderbird. Don't let the title fool you, this is the softest ballad on the album! Basically, it's slow and soft. EVERY one of these eighties metal bands needed to have some power ballads, and this is one of the best. In the end, it's a classic metal masterpiece...

...but it doesn't stop there if you bought the remasted edition! On the remastered version, in addition to expanded liner notes, you get two bonus cuts! Danger Zone, previously unreleased, is one of the band's many fast and frantic rockers. Though normally I praise DuBrow's vocals and only DuBrow's, the true highlight of this track is the BACKING vocals (in the chorus)! You must hear this track to appreciate it. The live take on Slick Black Cadillac is not a whole lot different than the studio version found earlier on the album, but it doesn't have to be. The bonus cuts make the remaster the obvious choice if you don't have the album yet.

Metal Health stands as one of the crowning achievements of eighties metal, and with good reason. It's ironic that DuBrow sings the line "I really wanna be overrated" in the title track, because this became the first metal album to top the pop charts! I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS, THIS ALBUM IS WORTHY OF BEING OVERRATED! NO FAN OF EIGHTIES METAL SHOULD BE WITHOUT IT!

The day the new wave died........ 2005-01-03 FM Radio, circa spring 1983 was booming with the latest techno wondergroups like Devo, The Cars, Blondie, The Eurythmics, The Human League and countless John Hughes Sync-No Movie Soundtrack Bands with banks of Korg Keyboards and digital drum-kits. New wave was starting to sound like old wave when Quiet Riot dropped thier first single "Cum On Feel The Noize" Not only were they the first hard rock group to reach #1 on the charts, they were also the first pre-hip-hop group to basterdize the spelling of their song. This song hit like an Asian Tsunamis and gobbled up every bit of FM and MTV Video Time. Music is a dynamic force and this song said sayonara to synthesizer music in the same way that hard rock was dismissed by Nirvana nearly ten years later. Although not the greatest rock album of the decade, it will always be remembered as the usher to some of the best music of the 80's..........

- Amazon