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ßÛ°    °Û²
   °  ÛÛ    ÛÛ     Artist: Sudden Death                           ÛÛ    ÛÛ
   ²   Û°° þÛ       Album: All or Nothing                          Ûþ °°Û
   þ    Û²ß Û        Year: 1987                                    Û ß²Û   °
         Û  ²   Rel. Date: 2015-10-18                              ²  Û
        ±   ±       Genre: Heavy Metal                             ±   ±
         ÛÜ °       Label: MPB-Records                             ° ÜÛ
      °   ÛÜ  °    Source: CD                                    °  ÜÛ
      °      Û²      Type: Album                                 ²Û        °
      ²       Û   Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo            Û   °     ²
      ²       Û                                                  Û   °     ²
      Ü       þ                                                  þ   ²     þ
            °Û                                                    Û° ß
            Û  First thought: Nice font. Is it necessarily a       Û
            Û  “heavy metal” font? Sure, if it’s a NWOBHM 7”; but  Û
            Û  wait just a hot sec, the band name is spelled       Û
            Û  correctly and this is CD and it’s not adorned with  Û
            Û  strangely amateurish artwork. Second thought: Red   Û
            Û  on black-Sudden Death All or Nothing-was still a    Û
            Û  good combination, even in heavy metal in 1987.      Û
            Û  Third thought: Shoulda paid one of their friends    Û
            Û  for some sort of childish drawing to adorn the      Û
            Û  cover.                                              Û
            Û  It’s German, it’s from ‘87 and it was produced by   Û
            Û  Harris Johns. But it’s not thrash, not really even  Û
            Û  “thrashy.” This is Balls to the Wall again. Maybe?  Û
            Û  And Blackout. Sorta? And Branded And Exiled.        Û
            Û  Kinda? And Headhunter. A little? The guitars are    Û
            Û  certainly “crunchy,” and far heavier than what      Û
            Û  Accept, Sinner and the Scorps were doing by this    Û
            Û  time; these hirsute gentlemen don’t look like they  Û
            Û  would’ve gotten on the same stage as a              Û
            Û  synth-playing heavy metal band. Arno Schamberg is   Û
            Û  gravelly on the mic, splitting the difference       Û
            Û  twixt Udo, Rock’n Rolf and Boltendahl but with too  Û
            Û  few actual vocal melodies to make the lyrics        Û
            Û  especially catchy (yes, there was indeed a time in  Û
            Û  heavy metal past when vocal melodies mattered-ah,   Û
            Û  sweet memory). For ’87, there’s just a surprising   Û
            Û  lack of polish across the board; not that everyone  Û
            Û  was a Pyromania-c by then, but the standard         Û
            Û  definition of heavy metal had certainly shifted     Û
            Û  away from this sound in most developed countries.   Û
            Û  So the former paragraph is not a ringing            Û
            Û  endorsement, even if it’s also not harsh            Û
            Û  criticism, leading one to think All or Nothing      Û
            Û  toes closely the “Average” line. Except it          Û
            Û  doesn’t. Sudden Death combine (what should be)      Û
            Û  tired heavy metal clichés (were they really         Û
            Û  unaware their fellow Germans in Scorpions had       Û
            Û  already written a song called “Backstage Queen?”    Û
            Û  in 1976?!) with so much earnestness that the        Û
            Û  result approaches brilliance. To wit: the first     Û
            Û  two songs, “Bloody Conclusion,” and “Killer,” are   Û
            Û  as good an opening salvo as any traditional metal   Û
            Û  band released in ’87-and probably ’88 and ’89.      Û
            Û  “Killer” in particular is a killer, a tantivy       Û
            Û  rocker that would’ve been called speed metal (the   Û
            Û  road not taken) if speed metal hadn’t already       Û
            Û  moved on to faster, shinier territory (see: Keeper  Û
            Û  of the Seven Keys Part I, released the same year,   Û
            Û  for the road taken). But that riff, that riff:      Û
            Û  Motorhead and Venom fans in particular will         Û
            Û  recognize its sublime genius.                       Û
            Û  Well then. Is it better than Heavy Metal Breakdown  Û
            Û  or Gates to Purgatory or Mean Machine or Walpurgis  Û
            Û  Night or Danger Zone? Not really, and it came far   Û
            Û  too late for a fair comparison. All or Nothing      Û
            Û  references a full half-decade of Teutonic metal,    Û
            Û  but does so with such loving reverence it’s hard    Û
            Û  to actively dislike the generic feel of mid-paced   Û
            Û  pounders like “Dust in the Wind” (Kansas, anyone?)  Û
            Û  and “Nightrider.” Was it already an anachronism by  Û
            Û  1987? Probably, but there are far graver charges    Û
            Û  to be leveled against 80s metal albums than that    Û
            Û  (see: Dangerous Charm for instance).                Û
            Û  An educated guess tells me the exploding thrash     Û
            Û  metal scene doomed Sudden Death; they disappeared   Û
            Û  with only this one album to their credit, so who    Û
            Û  knows what greatness or terribleness we missed out  Û
            Û  on. The desire for “extremes” made most innocuous   Û
            Û  “non-extreme” albums like All or Nothing            Û
            Û  expendable, especially one from a bunch of          Û
            Û  unknowns on a private label. As it stands, the      Û
            Û  album is an interesting addendum to one of the      Û
            Û  most fertile times in one of the most fertile       Û
            Û  places in metal history; even if it arrived a few   Û
            Û  years late to the scene.                            Û
            ²                                                      ²
            ±                                                      ±
            °  1.  Bloody Conclusion                         2:39  °
            °  2.  Killer                                    4:32  °
            °  3.  Dust in the Wind                          7:29  °
            °  4.  Loaded Brain                              6:35  °
            °  5.  Backstage Queen                           3:04  °
            °  6.  All or Nothing                            5:58  °
            °  7.  Nightrider                                5:41  °
            °  8.  I Want It                                 3:47  °
            °                                               39:45  °
         °  ±                                                      ±
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