ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 14, 1984
By Steve Newton
Metal maniacs could do a lot worse than pick up the latest vinyl from Swiss headbangers Krokus. Recorded at Vancouver’ s Little Mountain Sound and engineered by Payola$ guitarist Bob Rock, The Blitz captures better than any of their previous LPs the raw fire and intensity of the band.
Buzzsaw guitarist Fernando Von Arb and singer Marc Storace co-wrote all of the songs on The Blitz, with the exception of “Boys Nite Out” and “Ballroom Blitz”. The latter is a Michael Chapman/Nicky Chinn rave-up that was a huge hit for British pop-rockers Sweet several years back, and the Krokus boys turn it into a raging metal anthem with their “recorded live on the first take” rendition.
“Boys Nite Out” was a collaboration of Storace, Von Arb, and the Vancouver songwriting team of Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. Another local resident, Loverboy’s Doug Johnson, adds keyboards on the album.
Regular rhythm guitarist Mark Kohler has switched to bass for the recording of The Blitz, and does a fair job–along with drummer Jeff Klaven–of providing the band’s bottom end. “Midnite Maniac”, “Boys Nite Out” and “Rock the Nation (not the Montrose version) are pick hits, and all are given strong studio treatment by ace producer Bruce Fairbairn.
Krokus have progressed steadily since their debut album Metal Rendezvous, and if they keep up the pace there’s no reason why they shouldn’t join fellow European bands like Scorpions and MSG at the top of today’s metal heap.