Artist: Samson
Label: Sanctuary
Release Date: 1980
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Title: Head On Artist: Samson Label: Sanctuary Release Date: 1980
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Moloch:
I decided that for classics I am only going to review NWOBHM albums until I don't have any more to review. I decided a great place to start would be Samson's Head On, released in 1980. This is the second Samson album, but the first album featuring a young singer named Bruce Dickinson. Heard of him? Thought you might have. It makes sense that he went on to sing for Iron Maiden because these bands were very close during the nascent stages of the NWOBHM. If that connection isn't enough, track 5 on the album is an instrumental called "Thunderburst," which was co-written by Samson's drummer Thunderstick and Steve Harris. The two wrote the song when Thunderstick played drums for Iron Maiden (before Clive Burr). They called the song, "Ides of March." Sound familiar? It's the first song on Killers. When Samson recorded it in 1980, they called it "Thunderburst" and gave Harris credit, but when Maiden recorded "Ides of March" in 1981, they forgot about poor "Thunderburst." Well I think that's enough Maiden/Samson trivia for the time being.The early Samson albums are classics in their own right, and unfortunately have been overshadowed by the success of Iron Maiden. Basically, for those of you who wonder what the first two Maiden albums would have sounded like if Dickinson had sung on them, look no further. Granted, Samson and Maiden don't sound like clones of each other; they were playing a similar style of heavy metal at the time, but I think Maiden was a little more down Heavy Metal Way, while Samson still held on to more elements of 70's rock, a la Deep Purple or something.
Regardless, Head On is a great metal album, and probably one of the best to come out of the whole NWOBHM. Paul Samson was a great guitarist, and it really shows here in the riffing and the solo work. Thunderstick is a lively, enigmatic drummer who wore one of those bondage mask head cover things all the time. And of course, Bruce Dickinson: I used to think that the way things worked was that DiAnno was rock n' roll, Dickinson was Heavy Metal. I used to think that when Dickinson sang songs from the first two Maiden albums that the songs never sounded right. I thought it was because of Bruce's voice. I was wrong; it's just because he didn't record them. After listening to Sampson I know that Dickinson is just as rock n' roll as DiAnno is any day of the week. In fact, in track 5 "Too Close to Rock" he actually goes into this great Robert Plantesque wailing for a few lines. It's great. Now if you haven't heard Head On, don't be disheartened when the first song begins; I think there's a bit of cheese factor, but don't lose heart! It picks right up very soon when it blasts into the chorus, "You know in my life I've been a fighting man/hard times hit me, now I'm going down." It's awesome, and the intensity never relents from then to the end of the album. Track 6, "Hammerhead" is a great one as well. It sounds like it's about a shark, but it's actually about what I believe is Thor's Hammer. See? They even had a jump on the whole Nordic thing.
Anyway, this album kicks my ass, your ass and the asses of your wussy-ass neighbors. If you like Maiden and/or Dickinson, go pick this up and learn yourself some metal history.
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