Year : 1988 (Retrospect Records Edition 2011)
Style : Melodic Heavy Metal , Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 107 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:
If this album were boiled down to its best tracks, I'd give that EP's worth of material a 90% or so; it's catchy, no-nonsense heavy metal at its best. Simple enough to not require much effort to enjoy, yet varied enough to not get boring after countless listens. Singer Chris Resch sounds a bit like Axl Rose, but with less edge to his voice, and he fits the music perfectly. His two brothers/bandmates (yes, three brothers and a drummer make up the band) provide backing vocals as well, and as might be imagined they blend wonderfully together. A metal Hanson? Obviously there is NWOBHM influence, but The Kill has a flavor that's distinctly American; that sort of rockin' flair heard in bands like Warrior or Vicious Rumors, but without the power metal trappings those bands had. Riot's Fire Down Under made modern (for 1988, anyway) might also be a good comparison. The band hails from Alaska, and there is a definite sort of colder, "distant" feel to the music, especially on the aptly-titled "Last Star". The mood has a general melancholy feel to it, despite the pace being upbeat most of the time. The production is great, with the guitars having a slight fuzzed-out sound to them and everything right where it ought to be in the mix. Really, there's not much more to the band; songs are catchy, with hooks constantly catching you just before the last one loses its pull, bass licks popping in at just the right intervals, a new riff coming in as last one gets old, and no song outstaying its welcome.Well, not quite. The first four songs are awesome, and after "Madness Ascending" you're eagerly awaiting the next track; unfortunately that track is a cover of Golden Earring's "Radar Love", which in one of those bizarre metal historical coincidences Omen also covered that same year on Escape to Nowhere, and so did the little-known Repression over in Germany...I have no idea why, it's not a good song. Pandemonium do a respectable job of "metallizing" it, but polish a turd and all you've got is a shiny turd. Aggravating the problem further is that it's the longest fucking song on the album, clocking in at just over five and a half minutes; Pandemonium's strength lay clearly with shorter, catchy songs, so this choice is just incomprehensible to me. SKIP! "Driving Away" is short at least, but pretty weak; sort of a banal rock song that doesn't ever really do much or even attempt the mood and catchiness that made their good songs so good. SKIP! Ahhhh, and with a sigh of relief we come to the title track; it opens with a great riff, and we're back in catchy heaven. The pounding verses tell of a poor kid getting drafted and sent off to Vietnam or somewhere and told to kill, but he doesn't have the will...anyway, the bouncy main riff contrasts well with the jackhammer verse chords, showing Pandemonium understands songwriting quite well when they try."When it Comes to the End" is sort of a ballad, it's not horrible but not very good either. Sort of sentimental and cheesy; possibly an attempt at a single, aiming at the 80s hair metal demographic. Even this is way too heavy and fast for that, though (luckily for us). I don't skip it every time. Up next is a workmanlike cover of Black Sabbath's "Snowblind", which they speed up a tad too much. The production does make the song sound good though, and Resch's voice has a kind of Ozzy-ish nasal quality to it. The Resch on bass does a good job on the licks, too. Anyway, it's one of those covers that you can take or leave; doesn't butcher the original, but doesn't come close to its quality either. Black Sabbath covers rarely do. The final track is a bit iffy, better than the ballad but probably the worst of their good songs. If they had ended the album on a strong note I would've given the album a better score, but as it stands the entire second half has only one really good song up to the standard the first four set. Five really good songs, one decent song, one mediocre ballad, one mediocre cover, one poor song, and one shit cover; as I said, those five songs would've made a fucking killer EP, but the whole thing ends up rather anticlimactic by the end.
Line-Up:
Chris Resch (R.I.P. 2007) - Vocals
David Resch - Guitars
Eric Resch - Bass, Vocals
Dave Graybill - Drums
Production:
Recorded At – Stagg Street Studio
Recorded At – Preferred Sound
Recorded At – Track Record
Cover [Cover Art] – James Vincent Nelson
Engineer [Engineered By] – Bill Metoyer
Engineer [Second Engineers] – Brian Carlstrom, Ken Paulakovich, Pete Magolino, Richard McIntosh
Graphics – Ralph Bland Design Group
Liner Notes – David Resch
Logo [Logo Designed And Drawn By] – Dave Graybill
Lyrics By – Chris Resch (tracks: 2, 3, 6, 7, 10), David Resch (tracks: 4, 10), Eric Resch (tracks: 1, 8)
Lyrics By [Additional Lyrics By] – Dadie Kesch (tracks: 1)
Music By – Chris Resch (tracks: 4), David Resch (tracks: 3, 4, 6, 7, 10), Eric Resch (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 8, 10)
Photography By [Cover Photos] – JAI Productions*, Kristen Dahline
Producer [Produced By] – Bill Metoyer, Pandemonium
Rhythm Guitar [Additional Rhythm Guitar] – Eric Resch (tracks: 1, 8)
Tracklist:
01. Your Evil Ways 02:58
02. Cold Night 03:16
03. Last Star 04:26
04. Madness Ascending 03:45
05. Radar Love (Golden Earring cover) 05:37
06. Driving Away 02:46
07. The Will to Kill 03:30
08. When It Comes to the End 03:42
09. Snowblind (Black Sabbath cover) 04:39
10. Hell Is the Last Place 03:08
11. Pandemonium (1982 demo) 03:49 (Bonus Track)
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