Year : 1985 (Retrospect Records Edition 2011)
Style : Melodic Heavy Metal , Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 97 mb
Bio:
American heavy metal / hard Rock band formed 1978 in Fairbanks, Alaska, that moved to Los Angeles, in the early 1980s.The band released three albums on Metal Blade Records, and was featured on the first Metal Massacre record with Metallica, Ratt, and Steeler. Lead singer Chris Resch died of a heart attack in 2007.Arriving in Los Angeles in late 1980 with original drummer Kevin Fitzgerald, Pandemonium began playing the local club circuit, along the way playing shows with Ratt, W.A.S.P., Great White, Malice, Metallica, and other groups. After a couple of years the band had risen to weekend headlining status at famous clubs such as the Troubadour, the Whisky a Go Go and the Roxy. After appearing on the first Metal Massacre album with Ratt, Bitch, Steeler and Metallica, Pandemonium signed a three-album deal with Metal BladeRecords.1983 saw the release of their first album Heavy Metal Soldiers, increasing press coverage, good reviews, and the arrival of new drummer Glen Holland, later in Noize Toys and also known as Glen Söderling (W.A.S.P, 1987) and Tripp Holland in the band Engines of Aggression.During this time Pandemonium shared stages with bands such as Ratt, Metallica, Slayer, Quiet Riot, Black'N Blue, Rough Cutt, White Sister, Girlschool, and W.A.S.P. In mid-1984 the band played a sold-out show back in their home state of Alaska, opening for the Scorpions in Anchorage, on their Love at First Sting tour.Second album, Hole In The Sky was release late in 1985, on Metal Blade Records and featured new drummer Dave Basch. Engineered and co-produced by well known producer Bill Metoyer, this album had much better, heavier sound and received great reviews.During the next year, Pandemonium had moved up to headlining status at all of the major venues in the Los Angeles area, and also toured some, including shows all over California and in Las Vegas.Their third album, The Kill, also co-produced by Bill Metoyer, was released in early 1988 and featured new drummer Dave Graybill. The band shed their glam image to go along with the much heavier, Black Sabbath influenced sound of the new record. Many shows were played in the Los Angeles area to support it, including big LA shows headlined by Savatage, Kings X, Sanctuary, and Killer Dwarfs among others. After the departure of drummer Graybill in 1989, sensing the changing of the music scene, Pandemonium broke up in late 1989.David and Eric Resch moved to Seattle in 1990 and recorded a seven-song unreleased demo for a fourth album, playing clubs and recording as a trio, with new drummer Shane Wacaster. Ironically, the grunge movement of their new city, Seattle, made it clear that times had changed, so they chose to put together a cover/bar band that became popular, and played all over the North West for years. Singer Chris Resch moved back to hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska, in the 1990s and lived a happy, productive life working as a painter/drywaller, and riding dirtbikes and snowmobiles all over Alaska and the family "homestead" until he died in 2007, of a heart attack, at the age of 48.Eric Resch still lives in Seattle, owns a Karaoke business, and plays in a couple of cover/bar bands to this day. David Resch moved back to home town of Fairbanks in 2015, and also plays in a popular cover band, as well as working at a large musical instrument store, where he bought his first guitar in the late 1970s.In 2012, expanded versions of all three albums, on CD, with extensive liner notes, new photos, and unreleased bonus tracks were released on Retrospect Records. The label is now defunct, but copies are available on the internet and in record stores around the world. Negotiations are underway for another re-issue on a new label as of 2021.
Album:
Shining up metal armor the debut, Heavy Metal Soldiers, was too small to fit into, Alaska-cum-L.A.’s Pandemonium in a way find reinvention with Hole in the Sky. Here, this nine-song continuation of career shows moderately remarkable improvement in songwriting, urgency, tightness, production values, and general metal potency, and all this while looking way more goofily glam than when the debut hit the streets. Aurally, one could probably deduce it’s the same band after a slow double-take or two, but the four-piece (Holland’s gone with Dave Basch the new stool-warmer) at this point are only worth that much trouble to fans who actually got hooked on their errant hard rock. In the time since, the Resch brothers three had little choice but observe the scene through a wide-angle lens and pay attention to the assortment of bands they’ve been sharing stages with. What’s working and what’s dying? They could’ve realized the toughening of metal spirit would help them survive possible extinction. Or could a better way be going full-on glam. They’re in the right city.What Pandemonium attempt, however, is to splice together better parts of both fates. Hole in the Sky embraces metal and hard rock’s coinciding expanse of creative tolerance, from the hard-nosed and hairy to the handkerchief-dabbed and hair-teased on either side, and is a split that’s accomplished with fair success, being better blended than Spartan Warrior’s Steel n’ Chains, Crue’s debut and a few others.Off the bat, the first thing rivetheads are gonna wanna know is if they should expect another spinning disc of metal deprivation. The simplest way to answer is to drop the needle on either side’s kick-off - “Eye of the Storm” with its suspenseful toil or “Evil Face” with its power metal infusion – and hear the sparks fly. Individually these specimens collect more honest metal than the poor debut’s entirety, and the fact that its disposition smokes like a grease fire should warrant some drinks on the house bought by a whole lotta doubters, yours truly included. Lively, sap-free rocker “Look of Death” and the surly-paced intimidation of “Imprisoned by the Snow” take up arms on the same side of the moat.The other end of this spectrum addresses yer bouncy, hair-tousled, video-destined commercial yak – “Don’t Touch That Dial”, “Nothing Left to Say”, and “Imagination” - that, due to its newly-exceptional playability and charm provided by simultaneous upgrades in production and songwriting, associates more directly yet with the professionally-sharp sequins of dreaded butt rock. I can’t really say these tracks are deserving of acceptance, ‘cos they aren’t unless this is the group’s identity you’re interested in romancing.Stuck floating in the moat on a shattered wedge of drawbridge is the odd cover of second string Canadian act, Trooper, “Boys in the Bright White Sports Car”, meanwhile “After the Freeze” plunges the disc’s end into a short, yet cool piano overture frozen by backdrop wind.HITS spot welds the debut’s known weak links, most notably Chris Resch’s pipes which, while remaining loyal to their original upper-mid register, strut more confidently with lean, malleable bulk and heightened style. A production that’s eighty times better predictably liberates the music’s smoother sheen, classing it up to meet the sought after degree desired by MTV.Hands down, Hole in the Sky even with its split screen persona is more appealing than the uncurved poverty line of Heavy Metal Soldiers. 'Nuff said.
Line-Up:
Chris Resch (R.I.P. 2007) - Vocals
David Resch - Guitars
Eric Resch - Bass, Vocals
Dave Basch - Drums
Production:
Recorded At – Track Record
Mixed At – Track Record
Cover [Front Cover Painting By] – Dixon Jones
Engineer [Engineered By] – Bill Metoyer
Liner Notes – David Resch
Lyrics By – Chris (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8), David (tracks: 3, 6), Glenn Holland (2) (tracks: 4), Pandemonium (6) (tracks: 4)
Music By – David (tracks: 1, 3, 6, 8), Eric* (tracks: 1 to 3, 5, 6, 8), Glenn Holland (tracks: 4), Pandemonium (6) (tracks: 4)
Photography By [Photo By] – JAI, Kristen A. Dahline
Producer [Produced By] – Pandemonium (6)
Written-By – Brian Smith (tracks: 7), Ra McGuire (tracks: 7)
Written-By, Performer [Played By] – Chris (tracks: 9)
Tracklist:
01. Eye of the Storm 03:22
02. Look of Death 03:31
03. Imagination 03:54
04. Don't Touch That Dial 05:39
05. Evil Face 04:26
06. Nothing Left to Say 03:43
07. Boys in the Bright White Sports Car (Trooper cover) 02:39
08. Imprisoned by the Snow 05:16
09. After the Freeze 00:55 instrumental
10. Eyes of Science (1982 demo) 03:41 (Bonus Track)
11. Difference of Opinion (1982 demo) 03:11 (Bonus Track)
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