Year : 1985 (Golden Core Records Edition 2021)
Style : Heavy Metal , Speed Metal
Country : Belgium
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 167 mb
Bio:
Scavenger is an oldschool Belgian heavy metal band that released the album “Battlefields” in 1985. Great for fans of Ostrogoth, Acid, and Crossfire!Scavenger surfaced onto the scene after Deep Throat were forced to change their moniker in late 1984, due to the fact that a German band by the same name claimed the rights to the name. In those days the Scavenger line-up included Jan Boeken (vocals), guitarists Marc Herremans (ex-Backslider, White Heat) and Patrick Vanschooren (ex-Wicked Widow), Roger Roscam (bass) and on the drums Luc Ebinger (ex-Hellfire, Dakota, En Psycho Monkey).Back in November of 1984, on the evidence of their one and only, Deep Throat had already signed a deal for three albums with Mausoleum Records. In February of 1985 Scavenger began recording for their debut LP, which was supposed to be entitled “No Return”. The recordings would continue, every once in a while, for some three months. Produced by Ward Kuczynski and guitarist Marc Herremans, all recordings took place at Harry's Studio in Heist-op-den-Berg. The mixing took place at the Shiva Studios in Brussels.Scavenger's debut release finally saw the light of day in September of 1985. The title had been changed to “Battlefields” though, as “No Return” was considered to be no good by Mausoleum Records. Instead the song “No Return” was elected to be the opening tune on side A. Their “Battlefields” tour started in 1985.Unfortunately, Mausoleum quit their activities just after “Battlefields” album came out, so the future of Scavenger was hypothecated and this resulted in the dissolution of the band due to the lack of financial and material support.In 2017 the paths of Luke Ebinger and Marc Herremans crossed again. They decided to bring Scavenger back with 6 own songs and some new songs. Together with 3 new members, Tine Callebaut, Kevin Demesmaeker & Lucas Baten, Scavenger was reformed.These new, and younger, bandmembers were found but instead of a new male vocalist, they now joined forces with a female vocalist called Tine Callebaut. At this moment the band is working on new songs and they also wanna go on stage once again, their first gig is already booked: June 9th 2018 at the Stormram Festival in Zulte(Belgium). Beware the new Scavenger!
Album:
I'm writing this review mainly as a response to author Martin Popoff's toss-off review of "Battlefields" in his for the most part excellent(except for a few reviews I vehemently disagree with such as his SCAVENGER-"Battlefields" write-up) and invaluable book The Collector's Gude To Heavy Metal Vol. 2: The Eighties". In the book, Popoff basically states that Belgium's SCAVENGER were little more than a Krokus wanna-be clan with minimal Metal to offer. Now, I don't know if Popoff ever really listened/examined SCAVENGER closely or maybe just gave them the old "one song" treatment, but SCAVENGER is sure as hell alot more than bottom of the barrel European Metal! First off, SCAVENGER-"Battlefields" LP (1984) has one of the best productions of any Mausoleum release. Second, the album was recorded in 1983 which is quite early for the aggressive form of melodic Euro-metal that SCAVENGER exemplifies. I mean these guys meant business! Their musicianship is excellent, drawing on all the pre-'83 Euro-Metal bases(Picture, Accept, Trance, Heavy Load, Viva, Torch, Bodine, Glory Bells Band, and the power & glory of the NWOBHM). SCAVENGER were a highly competent band but existed in a burgeoning and overcrowded European Metal scene. This reason, as well as seemingly minimal distribution of "Battlefields" (although maybe it just never made it to the USA), doomed SCAVENGER to the dustbin of Metal history. In this sense every time I listen to SCAVENGER I get kind of bummed out because there were just SO many killer European band from '81-'87 that just seem to have got lost in the shuffle. If ever there were a band that deserved a second look, it's SCAVENGER(and to be fair Saints' Anger and Underdog's "Rabies In Town" as well). Truly a killer album with great guitars, catchy but dark bleak/melodies, above average production, GREAT LP cover art, and a hidden weapon in a the vocal department blending just the right amount of Euro-accent with well-spoken Engish. Basically, if you LOVE the European Metal of the early/mid 1980's, SCAVENGER is a band you cannot overlook, even despite what Martin Popoff says...Afterall, SCAVENGER could devour any of today's so-called melodic/traditional bands in one old school bite.
Line-Up:
Jan Boeken - Vocals (R.I.P. 2019)
Patrick Van Schooren - Guitars
Roger Roscam - Bass
Marc Herremans - Guitars
Luc Ebinger - Drums
Backing Vocals – The Scavettes
production:
Composed By – Boeken*, Herremans*
Engineer – Ward Kuczynski
Executive-Producer – Alfie Falckenbach, Stonne Holmgren
Producer – Marc Herremans, Ward Kuczynski
Programmed By [Synthesizer Programming] – Walter Christian Rothe
Scavenger battlefields album
Recorded at Harry's Studio, Heist O/D Berg, Belgium
Mixed at Shiva Studio, Brussels, Belgium
Tracklist:
Battlefields (Remaster 2020):
01. No Return
02. Devil's Answer
03. Ready
04. Battlefield
05. Rock Fever
06. Into The Fire
07. Vengeance
08. Heartbreaker
09. Free
10. My Ears Are Ringing
Deep Throat - Demo 1982:
11. The Morning After
12. Rock And Roll Forever
13. Stay And Have Me
14. Chuck Stallion
15. Clooser's Blues
For Fans Only! Live 1984:
16. Dirty Love
17. Into The Fire
18. Nightclubbing
19. Punishment
20. Rock Fever
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