Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound
#123
By Timothy Sprague
Tygers of Pan Tang
Spellbound
Genre: Metal
Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5
Tim’s Rating: 1.5 out of 5
If Allen Lulu is going to randomly assign a heavy metal album album for you to review, you could do worse than Tygers of Pan Tang. This is more of the Van Halen party music variety of metal, as opposed to the faux-Satanic spandex and big hair type. I really don’t like metal vocals and shreddy guitar playing but, in the spirit of this project, have done my best to give this album a chance. The sound definitely evokes the 1980s and the boys certainly have some chops. It’s the kind of album that I assume hardcore metalheads feel is an under-appreciated classic. The tempos are fast and the rhythm section chugs along nicely. But those vocals… just not my scene, man. The thing is, I appreciate how hard it must be to sing like that but I would not be caught dead with this album blasting out of my car windows. It is the epitome of the conformist corporate-approved “rock sound” of the time. The closest thing I can tolerate is Ian Gillan on Jesus Christ Superstar and some of the better Deep Purple tunes. As a prog rock fan, I dabble in Dream Theater a bit, but even that gets tedious for me when the guy starts singing again after the cool instrumental parts. One can picture many frizzy-haired young men in 1981 stuffing a sock in their tight acid-washed jeans and rocking out to Spellbound. And probably thinking it will get them laid. You get the idea.
On the other hand, if I were going to drive 120 miles per hour down the freeway to oblivion, this album would not be out of place. Some early Sabbath or AC/DC are more my speed in that scenario. Tygers of Pan Tang were clearly good enough to get a recording contract, but simply pale in comparison to the masters of the genre.
https://open.spotify.com/album/735Usw12Mtol0gD6JpDkZg?si=Z_b4feeySymcG3HT0L-ZFA
No comments:
Post a Comment