The origins for the band Risk can be traced as far back as 1967! Back then a group of people formed the progressive rock band, known as Faithful Breath, in their town of Witten, Germany. The band released their debut album in 1973, and the last one in 1986. Over time Faithful Breath evolved into a heavy metal band, especially after the NWOBHM era, and the rising success of fellow German acts, such as Accept and Scorpions. But in 1986 a new change was at hand. The band morphed into another new wave of music, this time deciding to play speed metal and thrash. Along with the name change they also dropped the Viking image they had been using for the last years as Faithful Breath. The newly named Risk debut album came 2 years later, and the band continued to release new material almost each years until their break-up in 1993.

THE REBORN (1992) SPV/STEAMHAMMER

I'm not sure if I'm lucky or unfortunate to have started my familiarization with Risk's 4th album, 'The Reborn'. Because according to several sources this is a change in the bands sound once again. Even I thought about Risk as a thrash metal band, and that is why I picked this album up in the first place. 'The Reborn' still fits under the larger umbrella that is the thrash metal scene, but the brother part of the material is not pure thrash. They are mixing it up in plenty with power metal, speed metal and just plain old heavy metal. Add to this a Eastern vibe (read: India), and you get an eclectic metal album for sure. I think this is a concept album of sort. There is definitely a red line in the lyrics department, and the inserts tells a short "story" both in English, and in German. It's an apocalyptic report of the state of the world being doomed. And helps only come through destruction of this wicked world order. The music put to this Armageddon at hand is eerie. Sitars and other unusual instruments and sounds are intercepted with the "normal" riffs and rhythm patterns. The result is a very different, but also interesting, metal album. Imagine a cross between Voivod and Crimson Glory? Weird, I know, but I totally think it works! And the more I listen to 'The Reborn', the more I like it. It's very varied, and never gets stale, even with a mediocre (sort of) vocalist. I guess he was really great back when they were doing the speed metal thing. But his rough voice is suffering a little when trying to sound cleaner. And his chanting, almost narrative voice on some of the songs, such as "Lullaby" are really an acquired taste, I guess. It doesn't really bother me though. I actually tend to appreciate these quirky singers more over time. They have a uniqueness and charm often lacking in most of the powerhouse singers out there. As of writing this I'm not even sure how to pick favorite tracks from this album, as I am finding stuff to like in each of the regular songs. But even though this might become an all killer, no filler album for me, it is not like this is the greatest thing since sliced bread though, but it will certainly become one of my unknown favorites. Oh, and I might also mention that "Phantasmagoria" is not an Annihilator cover.

Killer tracks: Last Warning, Lullaby, The Night Will Fall, Phantasmagoria, Armageddon (Fight Back)

Related artists:

Angel Dust, Running Wild, Grave Digger