God knows they were never given any credit, but if potential was to be measured by pure instinctive ability -- not sales results -- then one could make a pretty good case for Tyneside, England's
Fist
as one of the
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
's most under-appreciated and innately talented acts. Yes, it's a stretch but consider this: although they were rushed into the studio by
MCA
to cobble together their first album -- 1980's
Turn the Hell On
-- on extremely short notice,
came away with what, in retrospect at least, has to qualify as one of the
N.W.O.B.H.M.
's better
hard rock
debuts. For
, you see, were rather erroneously associated with that particular movement, and
blues
-based, melodically-inclined album highlights like
"Hole in the Wall Gang,"
"The Watcher"
and
"One Percenter"
clearly peg them as disciples of
UFO
Thin Lizzy
, far more than
Black Sabbath
or
Judas Priest
. In addition, as well as revealing the quartet's very tight and familiar musical interplay, singles like
"Forever Amber,"
"Name, Rank and Serial Number,"
and the very amusing
"You'll Never Get Me Up (In One of Those)"
displayed the sort of songwriting confidence and maturity -- particularly in terms of their lyrics -- that most contemporaries sorely lacked. And even though the same compliments can't be bestowed upon every track here (witness the rather silly
"Axeman"
),
show great versatility on two surprisingly convincing
ballads
: the well-crafted
"Collision Course,"
and the bluesy
"Terminus."
Sadly, none of the above would be enough to break
to as large an audience as required by
, which perhaps prematurely, dropped the band only a few months later. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia