### Risk: The daily horror news

#### 19/10/10 || Habakuk

Believe it or not, German Metal from the 80’s still has some obscure (and good) stuff to offer to even the more experienced metal fans. Or have you heard of Risk? Thought so. Me neither, until a few weeks back. However, it’s pretty safe to say that these folks here were among the originators in the German scene. They started their first (whatever … progressive Spack Rock) band called Faithful Breath in 1967 (!) and went for a Viking theme soon afterwards. Yep, take that Amon Am Arsch, these guys had your shtick down in 1981 already. And you know what? They already knew better. After a few of these Viking albums, they disbanded and went on to form Risk. Good on them, as with the change in band name came a change in style – from now on, Thrash-tinged Speed metal was these guys’ game, and their previous band experience shows in the fact that their debut, “The daily horror news”, turned into a fucken classy slab of metal.

Oh yeah, forget about the cover. Do not look- ah, whatever. Yeah I know, it features a hippo with a hat that reads “Mosh” and a monkey with a Mohawk. Yes, the crocodile wears a denim vest. No, I don’t know what made their interest shift from the seas of the north to comic book jungles. Yes, it’s stupid. Believe me, the music will make up for it, and it’s quite unique at that.

Imagine early Blind Guardian never discovering the glorious aspects of Fantasy literature but instead continuing on the path that the “Master of Puppets” shirt on one of their early album back covers promised. If you want an instant example, I’d suggest you listen to the opening to “Speed kills” to see where I’m coming from. That’s something Blind Guardian could never have done better, but with the difference that Risk let melody be melody and turn their songs into meaty, gritty shred fest sooner or later. The two guitarists sound tight and clearly had their shit together when going for the fast lane with “The daily horror news” – their repertoire comprises everything you could ask for, from galloping riffs to half-time shreds to semi-melodic interludes. Plus, the band have some smashing grooves (“Chaos! chaos! Living in chaos!”) and a gang-shouts-gang to boot, which places them closer to thrash despite some Helloween-like solos, a rather thin, transparent production and a clear focus on speed.

The singer is somewhere in the middle of those genres. He never tries to really “sing”, but he retains some melody and tone instead of simply gnarling, and, thank Fishnu, god of the fish, he doesn’t go hiiiiighh pitched like, say Schmier – at all. Thank you so fucken much. And it actually helps in making out some of the hilarious lyrics sung in an obvious German accent… this shit’s from the 80’s, after all. I don’t wanna give away too much, but song titles like “DNS Madness”, “Violent Science” and “Alien Terror” will give a rough idea of the societal problems these guys adress. Of course, there’s the obligatory instrumental as well, but it’s actually quite a good song, varied as the rest, and doesn’t seem tacked on.

So yeah, judging from this album and the following EP (the only stuff of theirs I’ve heard), Risk seems to be a band completely forgotten for no good reason. If you have but the slightest interest in 80’s metal somewhere between Thrash and Speed, you should probably go out and look for this disc – or, more promising, its digital reincarnations on the Internet. It will make your monkey hop onto a crocodile that sits on a hippo in the jungle… or something.

- Information
- Released: 1988
- Label: SPV
- Website: Risk MySpace
- Band
- Heinz Mikus: vocals, guitars
- Roman Keymer: guitars
- Peter Dell: bass
- Jürgen Düsterloh: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Living in chaos
- 02. Roadwar
- 03. DNS madness
- 04. Revolution now
- 05. Alien Terror
- 06. Speed kills
- 07. Rommes Fritz
- 08. Strike