mean streak metal slave

Released: 14 September 2009 Label: Black Lodge

There is something wonderfully "old school" about Mean Streak - and by old school here, I mean the best of the mid-1980s EuroMetal scene. My first thought when I heard the opening riffs of Whom The Gods Love Die Young was that this band would have made a great support act on the World Slavery Tour by Iron Maiden between '84 and '86 ... an impression completed by the album being entitled Metal Slave. Hell, even the cover art screams out from the 1980s ... this is old school, with a capital O, a capital S, inappropriately placed umlauts and everything.

If anything was going to put people off this album, it would be that it displays a great deal of Iron Maiden influence. It's not hidden, far from it - it's unashamedly out in open view and capitalised upon in no small measure ... and I have to say that I rather like it. Lots of twin guitar work, song driven composition, tasteful and in-context lead guitars. It's not just Maiden that gets a nod though - Saxon get their fair share of influence over Metal Slave as well, as do Judas Priest. All in all, a selection of some of my favourite 80s bands! On top of all that, it manages to keep in this zone without turning into a pastiche of the masters of old.

Sadly, some people will fail to see past the Maiden-esque guitars, but that won't stop me playing it to them! Repeatedly. Until they surrender. Or die of a overdose of true metal. The only reason stuff like this gets called "cheesy" is because it is a tried and tested formula that has been popular for three decades and counting - and then only by those who think that trends in metal are a good thing. We couldn't care less about their opinions, could we? Answer very carefully ...

This is a slick, polished, well-produced, well-written slab of quality metal that deserves to grace tens of thousands of CD players. If Mean Streak had released this during the late eighties or early nineties when Maiden were on a bit of a decline it would likely have been a platinum seller. If you were born in the 60s or 70s and remember the explosion of metal in the 1980s, you need this album.

Go buy it now. Don't wait.

Why are you still sitting there?


by Kev McCarthy