Krokus – The Blitz

Listening to this album, no one could accuse Krokus of being AC/DC clones anymore. The sound is far more polished.

Written by: Jeffrey343

ARTIST: Krokus
ALBUM: The Blitz
LABEL: Arista
SERIAL: ARCD 8243
YEAR: 1984
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Switzerland

LINEUP: Marc Storace – vocals * Fernando Von Arb – guitars * Mark Kohler – bass * Jeff Klaven – drums

TRACK LISTING: 01 Midnite Maniac * 02 Out Of Control * 03 Boys Nite Out * 04 Our Love * 05 Out To Lunch * 06 Ballroom Blitz * 07 Rock The Nation * 08 Hot Stuff * 09 Ready To Rock

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

Like many bands that began in the 70’s and were still chugging along in the 80’s, Krokus had been through several changes, both with personnel and musical style. Album number seven, ‘Headhunter’, got the band a good amount of attention. It was their breakthrough in the U.S., going platinum and spawning two classic rock radio tracks.

So it is surprising that they went back to the studio as soon as they did, releasing ‘The Blitz’ a mere 16 months later. After having Tom Allom handle production responsibilities on ‘Headhunter’, they turned to Bruce Fairbairn to produce this album. As you’d expect, based on Fairbairn’s background, the sound of ‘The Blitz’ took on a more polished sound.

The Songs

Listening to this album, no one could accuse Krokus of being AC/DC clones anymore. The sound is far more polished and less aggressive and threatening than ‘Headhunter’ or the previous albums.

‘Midnite Maniac’ is a nice way to start the album. It was the lead single, doing respectively on the U.S. rock charts. But it’s not one that sticks in your ears like ‘Eat The Rich’ or ‘Screaming In The Night’ did. It does establish the overall sound of the album.

If you like that song, chances are you’ll like the other songs with cliched song titles like ‘Out Of Control’, ‘Boy’s Nite Out’, ‘Out To Lunch’, ‘Rock The Nation’, and ‘Ready To Rock’. The last one of that list starts with crowd noise that leads you to believe it is a live song, but it isn’t. All of those songs are nice solid uptempo tunes that really don’t come close to metal.

I have always loved ‘Our Love’ – they really nailed this one. Great song, cool video – this one makes a lot of my playlists to this day. Following that as my second-favourite song is ‘Hot Stuff’. Now I realize a lot of folks believe songs like this are what killed the Krokus they had loved.

But to me, this is what I love to hear. It’s to their credit that they can pull off a song like this every bit as convincingly as their earlier and harder material. ‘Ballroom Blitz’, of course, is a cover of the big hit by The Sweet. It’s the least interesting song on here for me, but it isn’t out of place on this album.

In Summary

In spite of the manner in which I described many of the songs, I really do enjoy this album. I got it when it came out right before I began college, and it got a lot of play over the years.

This album definitely was a new direction for Krokus, moving away from metal and even hard rock to a smooth and streamlined rock sound more in line with where bands like Loverboy and Bon Jovi were (without the keyboards).

While I liked it, many others didn’t appreciate this change of course. The album still sold well, going gold in the U.S., but not receiving the sales or critical praise of their previous work. This direction continued with the 1986 release ‘Change Of Address’, again one that I liked better than many others did.

Video

Ballroom Blitz