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Maltese Falcon > Metal Rush > Reviews
Maltese Falcon - Metal Rush

Not terrible, but highly mediocre - 70%

FrostOfTheBlack, May 25th, 2008

Considering this came out in 1983, this really isn't that bad. It's just some straight up, 1980's style heavy metal.
It's clear that the band has been influenced by their heavy metal contemporaries such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Grim Reaper, and to a certain degree, Saxon. The lyrics are pretty bad; mostly cheesy, uninspired machismo-laden lines. Absolutely nothing redeemable about these lyrics.

What's good though, is the song-writing and song structure. Granted, it's nothing phenomenal, but it's fast-paced and for it's time it was somewhat original. It's very reminiscent of early W.A.S.P., and it's probably pretty easy to confuse these two bands to the untrained ear. There are some decent choruses, pretty good guitar riffs and solos, and furthermore not all the songs sound the same. The vocals are hard to stand, though. The singer clearly has good range and can hit some high notes, but he's very scratchy and can really annoy you by the second or third song. He sounds like a cross of Brian Johnson of AC\DC and Rob Halford of Judas Priest.

None of the songs really stand out at all; "Rebellion" is probably the best, but only marginally so.

Overall, an interesting listen, and if you love early 80's NWOBHM inspired heavy metal, you'll want to pick this up. Nothing to rave about, but it's definitely good to listen to every once in a while.

Not the worst, but still pretty damn bad - 39%

Mungo, January 5th, 2007

No, this is not the worst heavy metal album ever, as 'Kerrang' named it, but it is still pretty damn bad. This can even be compared to mallcore, not in the musical sense but in the way that it is fucking irritating and you want it to stop.

This is mainly due to the vocalist, who must be one of the worst I have ever had the mispleasure of hearing. It sounds like he is trying to sing like Halford and be really over the top but he ends up sounding like a monkey with a sore throat (when he tries falsettos anyway). While his low range isn't as terrible, he hardly ever uses it and most of the time reverts to his terrible falsettos. While he does admittedly have a good range, it is rendered useless by his style of singing. The worst thing about it is the vocals are accentuated in the production, so that they drown out the instruments. Another gripe is the songs are too long and repetitive. They could've benefited a great deal from being a minute or so shorter so they don't sound as dragged out.

This is a shame really, because if they had a better vocalist or shortened the song lengths they would be somewhat decent. There are some reasonably good riffs and solos to be found scattered around the album, and the drummer isn't half bad either. Unfortunately though, there are some truly atrocious songs, such as the boring 'Headbanger', overly slow 'On Fire' and the uninspired 'Heavy 'n' Loud' (one would think that a song with that title would kick ass, and be what the title suggests).

There are some good moments to be found on this record, you just have to wade through a lot of shit to get to them. If you can handle really bad vocals and are curious as to what it sounds like, maybe you might find some enjoyment from it. As it stands though, this is a bad album with the most irritating vocals one can find with a somewhat decent instrumental performance.

Highlights: 'Alive', 'Rebellion'.

Fuck you Kerrang. This is cool :-) - 89%

Brat1983, April 14th, 2005

Well, I read about this band in a book entitled something like "Danish rock encyclopedia" or some shit like that. It said that this album had been called one of the worst heavy metal albums ever in magazine Kerrang and that the band's singer sounded like he had a hedgehog stuck in his throat.

Okay, I thought to myself. Since I rarely agree with reviewers of magazines (most of them don't know what the hell they talk about anyway!) I wanted to check Maltese Falcon out. The library found the record for me and I went home and put it on the turntable.

The heavy tunes of Alive starts the record off in absolute superfashion. A real nice headbanger with nice riffing and also somewhat catchy. Really cool.

The next two tracks (Rats + Mammas in town) are decent but nothing special. I haven't experienced skipping them yet so they're okay.

Last track on the first side is Heavy'n'Loud, a real crunching heavy metal tracks of the 80's. I actually believe that if the band had been marketed in the right way, this could have become a real heavy metal classic of the 80's. Unfortunately fate has been very cruel to heavy metal on several occasions!

Anyway, it's time now to turn the record over and the second side kicks off with Rebellion, which also is a pretty good track. Not in the same vein as Alive & Heavy'n'Loud, but pretty good. Good riffing and catchy chorus. Nice.

I can easily imagine what a crowdpleaser the next track must have been in the mid-80's. It's called headbanger and the chorus goes something like "we all know how to headbang and we do it right". Musically this too is a pretty good track with a nice kick ass solo. It's recorded live. Nice!

On fire is the ballad track of the record and it's actually a real good one. Has a catchy melody line and a nice rhythm.

Last track is the title track (Metal Rush) and it's the fastest track on the record. Has a punkish feel to it, but don't get fooled. It's heavy metal all the way! Nice way to end an album!

Okay, this is really good genuine 80's heavy metal. It's pretty obvious that this band has been listening a whole lot to Judas Priest and early Maiden and despite not being original in any way, they've managed to write some real good songs.
And no, the singer is not half as bad as Kerrang says. He's not a great singer like Halford but he knows his shit and he does it well and he actually has an amazing scream.
The guitarists are skilled and the riffs and solos are real cool!
The drummer does what he's supposed to do yet not so much more, but he's stabile and there's no errors so I won't diss him. There's no need for Mike Portnoy here anyway.
The bassist... well, if it ain't Hal Patino from King Diamond/Force of Evil :-) cool way to start your recording career. As always he does it good (check the back of the cover to see the band picture with a real young Patino. I couldn't recognize him...)

If you like the heavy metal of the 80's, you wanna get this. It's cool!