Ball of the Damned

Scanner are quite a unique entity on the metal scene in the way that they have passed through three periods (the-80’s, the-90’s, and the-00’s) throughout their career, never missing a decade, and those periods are distinctly separated from each other with a 6-year gap. A mathematician’s approach by all means which shouldn’t be a surprise provided that the guys have been busy all these years mapping The Universe with all its galaxies, constellations and black holes. There would hardly be a single metal fan out there who wouldn’t agree that their first period (the 80’s) is by far their best achieving a double (a band releasing two albums in quick succession before splitting up or taking a prolonged break) that still stands proud on the German metal arena as one of the finest ones all these years. It’s way superior to the Vectom double, and more coherent and more consistent than the ones provided by Iron Angel and Angel Dust, for instance.

In this train of thought the guys were hardly having any aspirations to beat these two masterpieces with anything produced during the-90’s. They had a fairly realistic stance regarding the music realities at the time; which was a most pleasant surprise having in mind that their gazes have been constantly fixed upon the stars… However, this second double was another very strong showing, and not only because when it appeared metal was living through its most difficult period.

Scanner’s meanderings through the music “jungle” are invariably linked to Axel Rose…sorry, Julius, the guitar player, the main man and the founder. His first “child” was Lions Breed who released one album (“Damn the Night”) in 1985 of pleasant merry-go-round heavy metal, before moving on under the Scanner moniker. Ten years after those beginnings the man is alive and well trying to stay relevant in very tough times. His prodigious inability to keep the vocalists may be an impediment, though; he lost both singers, some of the best throats to ever grace the metal scene, who performed on the first two Scanner efforts, and now he has found this Pole, Leszek “Leo” Szpigiel, whose only exploits at the time were his “tirades” on the debut of the Polish thrashers Wold Spider. Not the ultimate super group by any means, but the final result was surprisingly good on “Mental Reservation”, highly exhilarating retro power/speed metal which predated Angel Dust’s similar transformation by whole three years.

The Polish vocal replacement did a great job matching the previous two every bit of the way, and Scanner could now line up for another Guinness record, for having the strongest three consecutive vocal turnarounds in music history (if we don’t count Black Sabbath, of course; or shall we…). Now it only remained to be seen whether Julius would be able to enjoy Leo’s partnership for at least one more stunt. Bingo! Leo stayed, and now the band raised the stakes even higher than The Universe for the fourth instalment. However, the band fanbase held no illusions whatsoever that this second coming would bring results better than the first one; “Mental Reservation” was a good album on all counts, but it couldn’t quite hold a candle mass to the early magnum opuses. So the hopes were that at least it would be a distinguished follow-up…

If one manages to accept the band’s new face with the mellower power metal rhythms, the reduced speed and the more progressive sprawls, then the album reviewed here should be a perennial delight from beginning to end. “Puppet on a String” is a fiery opener, an absolute speedy outburst ranking with the best from the band’s 80’s repertoire also adding an amazing chorus to the epic musical grandeur not without the help of Leo’s outstanding, soaring emotional vocal bravado. “Frozen Under the Sun” is the next in line speed metal winner blazing leads accentuating its stride all the way to another grandiose chorus the guys the undisputable masters of the Chorus (just remember “Across the Universe”, god damn it!) beating even Scorpions and Helloween in this department. At this stage this “ball” sounds every bit as good as “Terminal Earth”, and it’s on “We Start Tomorrow” when the guys slow down a bit, but the stomping dynamics fascinate all the same alongside another superb chorus.

“True Stories Teller” is one of the five greatest songs Scanner have ever composed, a perennial hymn which officiant semi-balladic aesthetics are made more alluring by Julius’ virtuoso performance who matches the extraterrestrial chorus every bit of the way. “Tollshocked” carries on with the balladic motifs, but not for long as the fast-paced crescendos start flying from all sides to create the definitive “eagle fly free” anthem of the 90’s. The title-track begs to differ from this awesome blitzkrieg approach, and acquires a more serious progressive flair which hesitates between semi-balladic officiancy and picturesque epic power metal both sides equally represented in the long 6.5-min run where one more super-catchy chorus captures the final moments. “Judge on the Run” is the mellow heavy/power metal “filler” although its brooding rhythms are not that bad, and it also finely serves to pave the way for the arrival of “Innuendo”; yes, a cover of Queen’s finest hour here turned into an imposing epic power/doom/ballad opus with both Leo and Julius doing a marvellous job the former making this song his own entirely without trying to make any particular adjustments to his timbre for the sake of Freddie Mercury (R.I.P.); and Julius capturing the musical magic with some truly inspired performance. The man is obviously a fan of the British legends and there’s no way he would mess up this immortal piece.

Scanner’s second return to the scene has been concluded in a fabulous way the band eventually succeeding in reaching the high standards from the-80’s. Listening to this album, it’s easy to see how the presence of the new power/speed metal forces (Iron Saviour, Primal Fear, Brainstorm) wasn’t that needed with the old veterans still around, and still doing a really good job. With Accept and Angel Dust revitalized, and with Helloween shaking off the shame and humiliation from “Chameleon” ready for more speedy feats, the-90’s suddenly seemed like a good place to live.

Another first-rate double came to pass descending upon the hopeful fanbase which was anticipating the return of the old guard on a full-time basis. Alas, our German friends here were the first ones from the aforementioned group who wrapped it on; which again wasn’t such a surprise having in mind how hard it usually is for Julius to keep a steady line-up for a longer period of time… The new millennium saw him up and ready with a completely new crew, and with a girl behind the mike. “Scantropolis” was a move towards purer progressive metal, and although it wasn’t such a bad recording, it was a not easily forgiven departure from the less bridled spirit of past efforts. The band folded for the umpteenth time only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes once more with “The Judgement” (2015) which saw Julius feeling nostalgic towards his roots with this new take on the good old speed metal. Not very close to the greatness of the first four opuses, this effort at least shows the band hopefully warming up for another ambitious, time-consuming “journey” across The Universe. Once in space, the crew has nowhere to go so… godspeed, Axel!

While my own reception to Mental Reservation was lukewarm at best, there is no denying that it rekindled a small amount of interest in the band, not to mention the fire within Axel Julius. By the later 90s, the German wave of power metal was truly starting to take flight once again, on the strength of bands like Blind Guardian, Rage, Running Wild, and Grave Digger, who had continued to churn out efforts of a general quality if not utter brilliance; and the promise of exciting newcomers like Iron Savior or Primal Fear. So the time was right for Scanner to once more enter the studio and produce whatever momentum they had attained with the previous record, coupled with the high regard many held for their earlier material.

This time, Julius managed to maintain a few key personnel. Leszek Szpigiel remained in the fold, making him the sole Scanner singer for two consecutive albums. Drummer D.D. Bucco also stuck around, but Julius recruited a new bassist (Marc Simon), an additional guitar player (Stefan Nicolai), and a full-time keyboard player (Stephan Braun). Keeping some of these ingredients intact turns out to be a positive thing for Julius, because Ball of the Damned is a better album than Mental Reservation. Clearly, Axel had no intention of returning to the band's heyday, instead interested in a slight progression, and it shows. The guitars are just as intricate as the previous record, but the vocals are a far cry superior, soothing and smooth, yet sharp enough when necessary to cut straight into the ether, the starlit night evoked by most of Scanner's compositions. More importantly, the songs have a more lasting impact to them, and the album is generally a pleasure to listen straight through, without picking out specifics.

It never hurts to start an album with a strong track, and "Puppet on a String" is exactly that, the best Scanner speed metal track post-Terminal Earth (and remaining so, to this day). Guitars that scorch with both the archetypal power of the genre, and a subtler level of intricacy, not to mention the iron grasp of melody. Szpigiel's performance is also top notch, bitter angelic vocals resounding across the vortex of clouds in the upper right corner of the album cover. "Frozen Under the Sun" likewise rocks pretty hard, with the intricate melodic speed just before Leszek launches into a beautiful chorus. "We Start it Tomorrow" works best when it hits the bloodied melodic grooves at its core, but its nonetheless a solid piece of this puzzle. "True-Stories-Teller" is another beautiful piece, stricken with a plague of majestic melodies and brief segues into clean, classical guitars, and "Tollshocked" is similar, though its dainty interludes are dispersed through a straightly played, memorable power metal anthem.

Aside from the staggering bass and classical elements that grace the slowly escalating "Ball of the Damned", there is not a lot of meat to the rest of this album. And even though that song is not what I'd consider one of the best here, its interesting enough that you'll not want to skip through it rashly. "Lord Barker's Theme" is simply an organ piece performed by guest Gerald Saloman, and "Judge on the Run" is a pretty standard mid-paced power metal rocker within the influence of Judas Priest or Accept, well-plotted but lacking any truly memorable riffs. The album ends with a choral march "Intermezzo" that leads into a cover of Queen's "Innuendo", which Scanner is quick to make 'their own' with a rendition that positions itself seamlessly into the fabric of their original work. It's well done, but until the solo, I wasn't all that impressed.

Ball of the Damned has its shit together, and though not at the level of other German releases of its day like Imaginations from the Other Side or the dumb fun of Grave Digger's Tunes of War, it should both sate the general power metal fan and assuage some of the disappointment die hard fans like myself might have felt when we realized there would be no further Hypertrace or Terminal Earth. The material is mature, refined and rather well produced, with a unique atmosphere of mystery that doesn't alienate the band's science fiction roots, but also feels less glaringly geeky or obvious. It was cool to see the band continue with a good chunk of the line-up in tact, but this will change once again in the years to come, after another long hiatus, with what I'd consider Scanner's most drastic change in style and tone.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

I honestly didn't think it'd be possible for Scanner to release something as medicore and lifeless as this. From the gods who brought you Hypertrace, Terminal Earth, and the hard to love Mental Reservation, brings you this uninspired boring venture. I'll admit when I first heard Mental Reservation, I didn't enjoy that album as much either, along with this one. But I finally got my hands on a CD copy of that album and blasted it often while driving, and the more I listened to it the more it grew on me, eventually I came to love Mental Reservation. Sadly, no matter how many times I try to listen to this album, it still doesn't really do anything for me. I can hardly manage to listen to it from start to finish, because I just get bored. It just feels like a jumbled mess with no real direction.

Their transition from the more straight forward Mental Reservation style, to a more progressive Scantropolis style is definitely apparent here. But its not exactly executed very well. A lot of the songs tend to built up to, nothing really. And they're almost a little too dynamic losing a sense of direction. There's too many songs here that have enough slower parts and pauses towards the middle, that seem to point the songs off track. The structures just seem unbalanced here. There really aren't a whole lot of killer songs on here, unlike their previous albums. Once I was done listening to this, or the countless times I try to listen to it, I cannot recall anything I just listened too. Nothing really stands out.

Leszek Szpigiel's performance, whom I praised on Mental Reservation is not the greatest here, especially on the first track "Puppet on a String". His vocals aren't as clear as they used to be, and his disgruntled singing can be hard to hear at times. I don't know what it is, but he just seems a lot weaker here and doesn't seem to give out the energy and power at his best like he did on the former album. The lineup itself is slightly different from the former. There's the inclusion of another guitarist next to Julius, and Stephan Braun on keyboards. Perhaps the reason this album is so disoriented? The riffs, leads, and solo's stand out like most of Scanner's albums, but because of the broken paths the songs follow, it makes them hardly memorable. This album is nearly 20 minutes shorter than Mental Reservation, but maybe that's a good thing?

Alright, so this album isn't utter crap or anything, and it can still hold its ground against a lot of other power metal out there, but compared to their other albums it was a huge disappointment. "Frozen Under the Sun" is probably the only standout track on here from me, having a lot of hints from Mental Reservation but still fails in comparison to something like "After the Storm". But for the rest, its just decent stuff at best. I'd recommend this for those big on power metal, or for the cult fans of the band only, but not as an entry. Hypertrace and Terminal Earth are mountains higher than this and drastically superior in every way. This is a shadow of some of Mental Reservations best parts. I probably even favor Scantropolis over this. Overall, I expected more from Scanner. Still love the band, and will hail them as one of the best early speed / power metal bands, but this album is just ... blah.