The 1982 album from Krokus ‘One Vice At A Time’ seems to be totally unloved in the review department, with just about every significant album of theirs covered except this one. Until now that is.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Krokus
ALBUM: One Vice At A Time
LABEL: Arista
SERIAL: 204 400 (Europe), 9591 (USA)
YEAR: 1982
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Switzerland
LINEUP: Marc Storace – vocals * Fernando von Arb – lead guitar * Mark Kohler – rhythm guitar * Chris von Rohr – bass, percussion * Freddy Steady – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Long Stick Goes Boom * 02 Bad Boys Rag Dolls * 03 Playin’ The Outlaw * 04 Save Me * 05 Down The Drain * 06 American Woman * 07 I’m On The Run * 08 To The Top * 09 Rock ‘n’ Roll
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Long time followers of the AOR scene will recognise 1982 as one of the best years of the genre. However, fans of heavy metal should also recognise it as a fine year also. European and British metal a la Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, The Scorpions and Krokus were doing big business on both sides of the pond.
We’ll focus on Swiss meisters Krokus in this article. ‘One Vice At A Time’ seems to be totally unloved in the review department, with just about every significant album of theirs covered except this one. Until now that is.
A few changes with this one. Mark Kohler replaced Tommy Kiefer on rhythm guitar at this point; and English engineer/producer Tony Platt came in to twiddle the studio, after a few years being an engineer for Mutt Lange.
His work is credited on AC/DC‘s albums ‘Highway To Hell’ and ‘Back In Black’ plus Foreigner‘s ‘4’ album. I wonder if Storace and co were influenced by his work with AC/DC?
The Songs
The sexual innuendo runs freely on the opener ‘Long Stick Goes Boom’. It’s like a return to AC/DC riffarama, but with more melody evident. Krokus sound pretty damn good on ‘Bad Boys Rag Dolls’, loads of energy and again, the innuendo is free-rolling. It’s a wonder that this band weren’t tagged by Tipper Gore and her cronies back in the day? Maybe they were, but not that I’m aware.
Three tracks in and the Swiss lads are keeping to a gritty and raw sound, not as glossy as ‘Metal Rendezvous’ for instance. This you can hear on the ballsy rocker ‘Playin’ The Outlaw’. The next track ‘Save Me’ is sung with a party anthem theme stuck down the back of the throat, but for me, ‘Down The Drain’ is an album highlight, a solid effort played with sass and crass.
A cover of Guess Who‘s ‘American Woman’ sounds rather ploddy next to the other tracks on the album. Much better is when Krokus return to their stock and trade, such as ‘I’m On The Run’. It’s a wonder that Krokus never toured Australia back in the day; they would’ve had a ball, their music going down just fine in all the Outback towns – like a super cold beer on a hot day.
‘To The Top’ continues the relentless march to the finish, with riffs being flayed like a dominatrix handling a whip. The boys complete this set with another razor-sharp rocker ‘Rock N Roll’. No ballads on this LP mate!
In Summary
‘One Vice At A Time’ did much better in the Billboards 200 charts than the previous ‘Hardware’ did, but their next album ‘Headhunter’ would prove to be even more successful. Krokus CD’s are pretty easy to come by on the Net for those looking for them.
However, Rock Candy Records have made it even easier thanks to their reissue set during mid 2014; this album being one of them.
Krokus on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
