For Hard Rock fans and collectors, having the two major-label SLAVE RAIDER albums on CD has been akin to finding the Holy Grail. Since neither offering from the costumed Minnesotans sold a lick on CD, finding a copy would typically cost a small fortune.
After almost 30 years since Slave Raider’s debut was out, both SLAVE RAIDER ’80s albums were freshly remastered courtesy of the sage pop metal purveyors at Divebomb Records. As requested, here’s these now sold out items.
“Take The World By Storm” is the debut by Slave Raider released independently in 1986. When the band got signed by Jive Records for the second album the label decided to remix this one and re-release it. The job was handled by Chris Tsangarides (TNT, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, Yngwie Malmsteen) who helped to add a more polished sound.
This remastered reissue takes the remixed version, where the track ‘Make Some Noise’ was cut by around a minute and ‘The Black Hole’ has a longer introduction.
The term “cult classic” gets tossed around pretty freely, but in Slave Raider’s case it is completely appropriate. Here’s a band that had a wild look, an even wilder sound, and that went beyond the normal hair metal clichés, yet outside of the Twin Cities area (Minneapolis), they just didn’t make a huge impact.
Slave Raider’s look and attitude owed a lot to bands like Twisted Sister, early Motley Crue, WASP and Lizzy Borden, and their sound had a lot of those same cues as well.
They took the basic Melodic Hard Rock formula and gave it certain edge and a flamboyant sense of style. The catchy hooks and Chainsaw Caine’s raspy vocals are what stand out the most initially, but the guitar crunch is what get heads banging.
Slave Raider does not mess around here. “Take The World By Storm” gets right to rocking, and keeps that up one anthem after another until the very end.
Caine has a huge presence as a frontman. He gets right in your face with his raspy, boisterous vocals, and is the perfect balance to the rowdy guitar licks Nikki Wikkid and Lance Sabin were laying down.
There are only eight songs on the album, and they’re all straight-up rockers. ‘Make Some Noise’, ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and the party-ready title track are highlights, but the whole album is a lot of fun.
In the end, Slave Raider didn’t exactly take the world by storm, but they were still one of the era’s most interesting and entertaining Hard Rock / Glam Metal acts.
Being originally an independent recording, the sound in “Take The World By Storm” is really good save for some cymbal flaws, but Tsangarides’ remix and this fresh remaster things got improved a lot.
If you like your ‘80s US Rock loud, catchy and over the top, this is a band you really need to discover, especially now that their early albums are once again in print thanks to reissue specialists at Divebomb Records.
This one was requested by one of you, place yours! (thanks to Robert for this one!)
Highly Recommended
1 – Take The World By Storm
2 – Backstabbin’
3 – Make Some Noise
4 – Burnin’ Too Hot
5 – Long Way From Home
6 – Survival Of The Fittest
7 – The Devil Comes Out In Me
8 – The Black Hole
Lead vocals – Chainsaw Caine
Guitar – Lance Sabin
Guitar, backing vocals – Nicci Wikkid
Bass, backing vocals – Letitia Rae
Drums, electronic percussion – The Rock
Keyboards – Lee Blaske