Year : 1983 (Loudworks Records Limited Remastered Edition 2024)
Style : Heavy Metal , Speed Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 94 mb
Bio:
Hawaii was an American heavy metal band formed in 1981 by former Deuce guitarist Marty Friedman, originally called Vixen (not to be confused with the 1980s female band of the same name).Vixen recorded several demos and appeared on the U.S. Metal Vol. II (1982) compilation album, before releasing the Made In Hawaii EP in 1983. Another early recording appeared on Metal Massacre II (1982) under the name Aloha, with Lisa Ruiz taking over lead vocals from Kim La Chance.After Hawaii split up, Marty Friedman formed the band Cacophony with Jason Becker; bassist/vocalist Gary St. Pierre joined Vicious Rumors as lead vocalist on their 1985 debut album Soldiers of the Night.Vixen vocalist Kim La Chance surfaced with Malisha and Serve Your Savage Beast in 1986. She was also the executive producer behind the Vixen – The Works (2003) demo compilation CD release, including "Angels from the Dust" from Shrapnel Records' U.S. Metal Vol. II.
Album:
Debut full-length album from Loudworks Records Limited Edition.Collector's CD of the first album released in ‘83 by the US-Hawaiian orthodox heavy/speed metal band featuring Marty Friedman.11 tracks, including 9 full-length tracks and 2 additional live tracks from ’83.Remastered, 6-panel digipak, limited pressing of 200 copies.Aloha from the land of the sunshine, the beaches, the palms, the beauties… and the speed/thrashing! Yep, it took the involvement of lads from this Pacific island nation for our favourite genre to receive a full shape. And they also accepted the ungrateful task to act as the mediators between the rowdier more brutal (Metallica, Slayer) side of it, and the lighter more speed metal-based (Anthrax, Exciter) one, thus borrowing from both pools to the loud, wild and heavy islanders’ merriment over there.And not only but they’d also armed themselves with a most gifted virtuoso axeman, someone Marty Friedman, and snatched the banshee-like singer Gary St. Pierre from their compatriots Vicious Rumors, that last one for this instalment only. I’m not sure what the idea was initially for them to parade under a slew of anti-metal monikers (Vixen, Aloha), and although their last one wasn’t exactly one to mindlessly mosh around to, it at least had this commercially-viable, tourist-trap connotation… and, there was no way one would think they hailed from Ohawaiio… sorry, Ohio, for instance.And there was no way one would think they weren’t living in sin once the opening furious speedster “Living in Sin” has passed, this one a leftover from the Vixen recordings, a most definitive headbanger with Friedman completely unhinged, shooting dazzling pyrotechnics all around, also producing his own short version of the mythical tango tune from Jose Basso's “La Cumparsita”. The ball dance fiesta gets transferred on the street with the rowdy power metal anthem “Silent Nightmare”, St. Pierre making this tune his own with some of the most hellish piercing screams this side of the Metal God. Yep, no kidding, everyone performs to the best of his abilities here, the title-track a most raging speed/thrasher that will send all the posers deep underground where they rightfully belong. The latter may timidly show their heads on the mellower heavy/power metal hymn “Escape The Night”, another reminder of the Vixen repertoire, but all will be levelled to ground zero once the wild fast-paced violators “Nitro Power” and “The Pit And The Pendulum” have trampled all around, that last number a borrowing from the Aloha repertoire, but a most handsome borrowing, racing with every single track from “Show no Mercy”. No rest for the wicked islanders after this exhausting hyper-active duo, the galloping vigour of “Secret of the Stars” providing a template for Omen, Helstar and Griffin to build their early career; and “Overture Volcanica” to show how a guitar hero can advertise himself, this last composition Friedman’s show entirely, an all-instrumental masterpiece which bedazzles the audience within 4-min, showing them a new face of the good old metal, a virtuoso symphony which embraces power, speed and thrash at different stages but invariably accentuates on the birth of a star as this is probably the first such piece in the history of the genre, introducing the six-stringer as a leading exponent of high quality music… the same elevation this number did for the guitarists as “(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth” from “Kill’em All” did for the bass players.So yeah, those were pioneering times, and those who were at the right place at the right time remained in the annals of history as the progenitors. Glory to them although of all the previously mentioned acts our heroes here were the ones that disappeared the earliest, and sadly failed to capitalize on the fiery momentum so handsomely gained here: the “Loud, Wild and Heavy” EP was a cool power/speed metal recording, but the more aggressive thrashy swagger from the album here was gone almost completely, and was delineated to the point of no return on the sophomore, a mild hard’n heavy affair which well-deservedly sank without a trace at the time.Under the inglorious circumstances, the band didn’t need a genius on the guitar anymore, and Friedman was snatched by Shrapnel for the launching of a stellar career. The others dispersed in various directions, the steadiest project with their participation being the one-album-spell Liquid Mirror, a passable hard’n heavy slab that at least had no distinctive heritage to be compared to. And that was it, the underground duly swallowed them… after all, they were its denizens from the beginning… rowdy, belligerent, seismic, defiant… and sinful, outrageously sinful.
Line Up:
Gary St. Pierre - Bass (1983), Vocals (1983) - See also: ex-Vicious Rumors, ex-Roxx, ex-St. Pierre
Marty Friedman - Guitars (1983-1986) - See also: Marty Friedman, Metal Clone X, Takamiy (live), ex-Cacophony, ex-Aloha, ex-Megadeth, ex-Deuce, ex-Vixen, ex-Aikawa Nanase, ex-FANTA, ex-Jet Red, ex-Lovefixer, ex-Red Dye #2, ex-Rock Fujiyama Band, ex-Rocket to Russia, ex-Ami Suzuki (live), ex-Shining (live)
Jeff Graves - Drums (1983-1986) - See also: ex-Aloha, ex-Vixen, Santana Soul (Santana tribute), ex-Paradise, ex-The Good China, ex-The Shamrockers
Production:
Producer – Hawaii
Producer, Engineer – Pierre Grill
Written-By – St. Pierre (tracks: A1 to A4), Graves, Friedman
Recorded at Rendez-Vous Recording from March to May 1983 in Honolulu, Hawaii
Tracklist:
01. Living in Sin (Vixen cover) 03:15
02. Silent Nightmare 02:58
03. One Nation Underground 03:59
04. You're Gonna Burn 04:04
05. Escape the Night (Vixen cover) 03:52
06. Nitro Power 04:22
07. The Pit and the Pendulum (Aloha cover) 03:08
08. Secret of the Stars (Vixen cover) 04:35
09. Overture Volcanica 03:52 instrumental
10. Lies (live) (Bonus Track)
11. Escape the Night (live) (Bonus Track)
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