This album from this Japanese band is a great download for your collection. Anthem are along with Loudness probably the most popular Japanese bad of the 80's. They also have far more respect in the underground than Loudness as they've largely kept down the path of traditional metal whereas Loudness started letting the whiff of aquanet and the lure of the LA scene f*ck up their brain cells in the late 80's and nowadays they don't even play metal...Anthem still do and have released a huge string of albums in their 16 year career of material and whilst none of them are really "great", they released some nifty discs back in the day. For me, "Tightrope" from 1986 is the strongest and has the least filler and whilst it isn't mandatory stuff, the album is a fun slab of 80's metal. It's comparable to the American Judas Priest worshippers at that time like Malice and Obsession and is delivered with the same slick and simple catchy hooks although with a more rough production.
Artist: Anthem
Release Title: Tightrope
Release Type: Full Length
Release Year: 1986
Artist Genre: Heavy Metal
Artist Origin: Japan
My Rating: 83%
Buy From: AMAZON
Track Listing:
1. Victim In Your Eyes 2. Night After Night 3. Death To Death 4. Tightrope Dancer 5. Driving Wire 6. Finger's On The Trigger 7. Light It Up 8. Back Street Groove (CD bonus track) 9. Black Eyed Tough
1. Victim In Your Eyes 2. Night After Night 3. Death To Death 4. Tightrope Dancer 5. Driving Wire 6. Finger's On The Trigger 7. Light It Up 8. Back Street Groove (CD bonus track) 9. Black Eyed Tough
Total playing time 40:08
Highlights include "Light It Up", "Tightrope Dancer", "Finger's On The Trigger" and the obligatory speed metal songs which there is at least one of on EVERY classic/power metal album, here it's "Victim In Your Eyes" and "Driving Wire". Songs like "Death To Death" and the 2 last tracks Black Eyed Tough" and "Back Street Tough" are average in their appeal and may make you wana hit the skip button. Most of the songs tend to be a bit samey but there's more killer than filler here compared to their other albums and so this is the best place to start at with the band. Check out a download of the songs I recommended and buy from Amazon if you dig it.
