The 1981 Listening Post - Rampage - Victims of Rock

 Reviewed by Rob Haneisen

Released: 1981 Rampage Victims Of Rock Genre: Early European Metal Rating: 2 out of 5 Highlights: He's A Dancer Tonight Rampage’s “Victims of Rock” is early 1980s European heavy metal with a heavy dose 1970s rock-radio vocal melody harmony. And I don’t think it blends well at all. The band is from Germany and after a couple albums, they disbanded and the members went on to form Helloween and Gamma Ray. From the opening song and throughout the 10 tracks I kept trying to figure which bands they were copying. Not emulating, copying. They were practicality stealing riffs and styles from such a weird mish-mash of styles. The opening song “I Wanna Be Free” had a guitar riff that immediately sounded liked Accept, but then the singer kicks in with a style straight out of Night Ranger and the guitar solo sounded like bad Ace Frehley. There are plenty more hit or miss moments and you could have a fun game of guess that artist and song. “He’s A Dancer” is their version of Judas Priest’s “Tyrant.” And the title track “Victims Of Rock” is another Priest homage. Other songs have Ted Nugent moments and the aforementioned Kiss (but not good Kiss). And let’s talk briefly about the song title: Why would you want to be a victim of rock? Nobody wants to be a victim. You can be addicted to rock (so maybe you are a victim there) but it’s just poorly written lyrics. I’ll give them a slight pass because I don’t think English is their first language. I generally cringe at vocal harmonies in hard rock and heavy metal. It often sounds cheesy and cringe-worthy. Some bands pull it off because they are talented, such as Van Halen, Queen, and Def Leppard. Rampage just doesn’t have the chops to make it palatable. I seriously thought they sounded like bad ELO, or Crosby, Stills and Nash (and I really don’t like them). There are a few times when the singer almost dips into a Brad Delp from Boston groove and that works best. But then the backing vocals try to add layers and it just collapses under the weight. The closing song “Tonight” has some excellent guitar effects and riffage and a very Priest-like, thudding bass line. Put that song in Rob Halford’s mouth and he’d make a meal worth eating. OK, that’s mixing a lot of metaphors poorly, but that’s Rampage for ya.