Diary in Black

This was the second and last Rawhead Rexx album. This bunch of German guys could have really hit it big if they’d kept going – though with a name like Rawhead Rexx, maybe that wouldn’t have been such a sure thing. Maybe if they’d been called Steel Reaper or Iron Force they would have had a better chance. Either way, this is their sophomore album Diary in Black, and it’s pretty goddamned awesome – for some songs, at the least…

On this album the band punched up their sound and polished things to a greater level than before, heightening the similarities with genre titans Iron Savior and Primal Fear, among others. The debut had a more raw, scrappy 80s power metal quality to it, but this one – armed to the teeth with a cleaner and more up-front production job to boot – is much more in the late 90s and early 2000s school, with speedy drumming and flailing Painkiller-styled riffing rounding out the new and improved Rawhead Rexx – tricked out like a car on one of those MTV “tune up” shows. Frontman Jurgen Volk still powers out some great vocal lines here, with his voice sounding more pro and trained than before – a high-pitched but gritty mix of a wail and a sneer.

The first three songs here (well, after the pretty useless intro piece) are the best the band ever did, bar none – and it’s really a shame when you hear this and think what they could have done on a third album, as unfortunately not every song is so good. But the potential was there in spades on this one – the raging speedster “Return of the Dragon” skates the edge of “classic” pretty close, and the title track might be the catchiest song the band ever penned, with a big harmonized chorus and a stomping, attitude-filled main riff. “Brothers in Arms” is the fastest track on the album and has a raging scream of a chorus you will want to howl along with, as well as some pummeling, heavy riffs to boot.

After this the album takes a bit of a dive – tracks like “Barons Overthrow” and “The Machine” simply aren’t up to the cut compared to the opening triptych, and the ballad “What If” never quite gets off the ground either. These songs are musically competent and entertaining metal tunes, but they don’t match up to the best cuts on the album – the divide in quality is sharp and very noticeable. Fortunately the band gets back to business with the epic crunch of “Dragonheart,” with its killer chorus and a Manowar-inspired main riff – the good Manowar, not Louder than Hell Manowar, thankfully. “Metal War” keeps up the pace and the other ballad “Six Feet From the Edge” might actually be the best written song on here – a wistful and heavy ballad that stands up to the best ballads of the genre’s frontrunners. Another song that shows the maddening potential the band had, and one that makes me wish they had gotten to continue and improve.

The drawback to a lot of tunes here is that the songwriting is strictly workmanlike, with a lot of choruses repeated too often and a heavy reliance on just shouting the song title instead of actual inventive melodies. A lot of this is extremely derivative, and while it’s all entertaining, the so-so tracks will have you wishing they put some more time into the writing process – as tracks like “Six Feet From the Edge” and “Return of the Dragon” show they clearly knew how to do. However, a lot of this is forgiven by the sheer exuberance and metal attitude on display. They were a young, hungry band ready to rip some faces off and get the crowd singing – they had exactly the right mindset going in, and I really appreciate the understanding of exactly what metal is about: stand-offish, rebellious and loud fucking music made to get peoples’ heads banging.

It’s unfortunate they never released anything else and capitalized on the potential of roughly half the songs on here – the other half just aren’t up to scratch and I feel the band really could have fixed that problem with one or two more albums. However, I still deeply enjoy this. For fans of Judas Priest’s Painkiller or the mid-era Paragon albums, Diary in Black is a pretty fucking awesome hour of heavy, crunchy power metal. Go get it.

Another direct hit for my metal detector! Ever since I heard of these guys, this CD has plucked at me, and I am glad I finally got off my ass and bought it. This is the second CD from Rawhead Rexx, and as their first album got good press, I can say there is no sign of a sophomore slump here, as this is one bad-ass mother of an album.

RR play an identifiably German flavor of power metal with that teutonic crunch sensibility, but they also flavor their metal with a bit of an 80's hard rock kick. The combination brings out a sound something like Dream Evil or old Dio, or even a heavier Vicious Rumors (VR axeman Geoff Thorpe even guests on a few leads here, clearly showing where they are coming from) The whole is heavy, catchy, and just all-around cool. There are a lot of kick-ass tracks here, from the opener "Return of the Dragon" to the punchy title cut and the volleying "Brothers in Arms". Rawhead Rexx even pull out a couple of ballads along the way. "What If" falls a little flat, but "Six Feet From the Edge" is pretty damned cool. I have to single out "Dragonheart" as probably the best song on here; it's got an awesome main riff and a terrific fist-pumping chorus that's so cool I can't resist it, no matter how over-the-top it is. Not every track is a killer, but they are never dull. The production is huge, crunchy and clear as a bell, letting you hear every inch of your ass being kicked. The band is very tight and the leadwork is in places really impressive. Frontman/guitarist Juergen Volk can really fucking sing, and his raw, powerful voice is a definite highlight on the album. He can sure hit the highs, but he doesn't overdo it, and his delivery has a swaggering confidence that adds a lot of conviction to the already impressive music.

The CD package is a jewel case (thank the Pestilent Gods) and has an incredibly cheesy "3D" cover that's supposed to look like a hologram but isn't one. The booklet has band pics and includes the lyrics, which are not fantastic but they fit the music perfectly well: straight ahead and no bullshit.

It's so cool to take a shot in the dark and come up with a CD this good. Rawhead Rexx kick some serious ass on this album, and I wish there were more bands with their hellbent determination to play power metal without the happy-flower trimmings that sometimes seem so prevalent these days. "Diary in Black" rocks, and I hope someday we'll get more from this band.

Originally written for www.metalcrypt.com

I picked this up because I'd heard good things about it; fast, agressive power metal is a genre I enjoy when it is done with some flair, originality or dynamism. It's a shame then that this actually sounds so contrived, so held-back, and so insipid.

Rawhead Rexx here give us an exercise in Generic Fast Power Metal. The songs are unoriginal, with the interesting bits few and far between; nothing sticks in the memory for long, as the songs hang listslessly in the air. The production is - frankly - rubbish, with both a weak guitar and drum sound ruining any excitement that might have been generated. The performances are insipid, with dull drumming, generic guitar solos and uninspiring vocals. Here's a lesson for Rawhead Rexx: listen to Painkiller. Listen to the thunderous drumwork; the heavy and agressive sound; the dramatic, passionate and varied vocals of Rob Halford; and the guitarwork, with its blistering soloing and sweeping, powerful riffage. Then go away and try again.

The saddest thing about this album is that, sometimes, Rawhead Rexx do achieve something with a fairly inventive riff or neat idea, but the sound of the thing is so piss-weak, and so drowned in mediocrity a promising bloom is ruined. In a word, this is boring.