STEPPENWOLF- STEPPENWOLF
This is a pretty heavy album. It's one of the first in metal and shows a really nice combination of good lyrics, jamming sound, and just overall coolness. I mean come on this is the album with “Born To be Wild” I mean how can I hate this album? Steppenwolf secures themselves a spot in rock lore just with this album and specifically born to be wild. They have a really powerful feel and are not afraid to pay homage to their own rock gods. Their song Berry Rides Again is a tribute to truck berry and has a nice Berry feel. I think it is brilliant that they are not afraid to worship their own gods in song while helping to create what was basically a totally new genre. This is a truly rocking album and has a great vibe.
This album has great tone. While there may not be much technical skill here there is a really good heavy metal feel. It is surprisingly strong for something coming in as one of the first metal albums. One could argue that Born to be Wild is the first heavy metal song. You can get a real hard vibe coming from this album it just literally “explodes into space”. They show that they have the power to be a metal band and you can not take that away from them. These guys are hard and blow the roof off in any venue. They find time for everything and show a marked leaving behind of blues music. There is very little blues influence in this album. This is intriguing as many early metal albums had major blues influences. This has a bit of bluesy feel in short segments of songs but really it is just 100% really hard rock.
This album is explosive and has power. The lyrics as a whole are pretty good some are particularly nice, especially in Born to be Wild. Some are very suggestive in nature and not at all occult as their contemporaries Black Sabbath (or Polka Fulk). The lyrics are really nicely done overall and give a cool feel to the album. The drums are powerful and give a sense of purpose to the music. They truly drive the album. The bass is also well composed and fun to listen to.
Over all this is a great album. It has some memorable tracks and is really a starting point in heavy metal. I think if I had heard this back in 1968 I would have been like “Oh Yeah this metal is gunna kick butt!”. The album is powerful and great it is way up there in my list of favorite albums and is a good starting point for early metal. This album lacks technical skill but it makes up for it in tone.
OVERALL 9/10
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