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Tank: Honour & blood
13/12/10 || Habakuk
Welcome to another edition of “bands that had a little influence but that no-one has heard of after around 1989”. Yeah, who the hell is “Tank”? Good question. You might have had some exposure to them if you’ve followed Sodom’s career carefully, as those guys covered two Tank songs on “Agent Orange” and “Better off dead” respectively. Or you have seen Metallica live some time around “Ride the lightning” or so, as the re-release Booklet on this disc has a picture that shows both bands together. Wo-hoo!
Tank are a NWOBHM band whose influence on bands like Sodom is indeed quite apparent. While the hard rockish tunes have nothing to do with thrash metal and the likes, Tank were one of the earlier bands that went for a raspy, vocal-chord grinding singer instead of an air-raid siren. I wouldn’t be surprised if the vocal delivery by Algy Ward inspired someone like Tom Angelripper to pick up the mic and give it a shot. Clearly not a trained singer, Ward makes up for his lack of skill with dedication. His lyrical themes – basically love and war – also partly show a transition from classic rock themes towards what later heavy metal bands addressed with their “little soldier” focus as opposed to political seesaw (See “Honour & Blood vs. “The war drags ever on”).
Yeah, that’s pretty much Tank’s contribution to metal, sort of. No wonder no-one’s heard ‘em. The music ain’t too shabby, though, if you’re interested in the early NWOBHM. Surely the production sounds dated with crunchy but much too thin guitars and a massive disco snare, but that’s something you’ll have to live with. Once you can get over that, Motörhead-ish riffs, hard-rocking groove, scream-along choruses and the odd melody you can’t get out of your head await. So, if you want to be taken back to a time where it was okay to cover Aretha Franklin (“Chain of fools”), give your album Nazi slogan titles and put a model kit box drawing of an M3 Stuart tank on the cover (those years of fiddling around with decals finally paid off), don’t hesitate and check out the remaster which you should be able to find for an acceptable price. I would lie if I said this was a revolutionary landmark or even “classic” album in any way, but for those interested in the beginnings of the genre or Fuck Metal Dinosaurs in general, Tank’s “Honour & Blood” is definitely an enjoyable listen, and that’s good enough for me. In case of doubt, at least check out the title track somewhere on the web. It rules.
- Information
- Released: 1984
- Label: Music for Nations
- Website: www.tankofficial.com
- Band
- Algy Ward: vocals, bass
- Mick Tucker: guitars
- Cliff Evans: guitars
- Graham Crallan: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. The war drags ever on
- 02. When all hell freezes over
- 03. Honour & blood
- 04. Chain of fools
- 05. W.M.L.A.
- 06. Too tired to wait for love
- 07. Kill
