CROWS -- The Dying Race

This band was mentioned in passing in Natalie Vlahovic's thoughtful review of Scanner's Mental Reservation in the magnificent third issue of Sentinel Steel, and I actually ended up getting the Crows record before I picked up either of Scanner's last two releases. I was delighted to find some amazing power metal on the album, but I was also puzzled that such a good band seemed to have lived and died in relative obscurity. So here's as much as I could find on Crows, one of Germany's best-kept musical secrets. Fans of Scanner and of great power metal in the classic German tradition are encouraged to check out this band!!

Leszek Szpigiel
Vocals

Bernd Kost
Guitars

Jochen Kalpien
Guitars

Frank Bankowski
Bass

Bobby Schottkowski
Drums

Band Information Crows was a West German band formed many moons ago, sometime in 1982. At some point the band recorded a demo with the bizarre title "Haunted Dog" (!) and also contributed a track called "Final Flight" to Roadrunner's 1987 metal compilation Teutonic Invasion. The band's only full-length effort was 1991's wonderful record The Dying Race. I have no idea why it took the band nine years to finally put out a record or why the band eventually dissolved. It's a shame, really, because they were a fine band with that classic German power metal sound and a terrific debut record.

An amusing aside is that, in what I suppose was an attempt to "de-Germanize" themselves back in the day, the band members originally used shortened forms of their names. For example, the original lineup of the band included Frank Banks on bass and Bobby Scott on drums, as well as Jean Adrian and Vinnie Heart on guitars and Steve Macatty on vocals. Perhaps Jean=Jochen, but I don't know if Vinnie=Bernd. I'm even less sure about the vocalist, since vocalist Leszek Szpigiel has gone on to use the name Haridon Lee to sing on two excellent albums with Scanner, Mental Reservation and Ball of the Damned. (Check the songwriting credits and thanks lists for the Szpigiel name, and hit the Scanner page for more information about Leszek's records with Scanner.)

The Dying Race This record was released in 1991 by the German branch of Century Media Records, but don't bother looking for Crows on the label's page. For some inexplicable reason, Century Media doesn't even list Crows on its roster of bands and doesn't have this record available for purchase. (I got my copy from CD Europe for $15 or so.) Distribution was handled by the likes of SPV and Rough Trade, but it still seems like this record didn’t get the attention it deserved. It's unfortunate, too, because the band had a lot of talent and potential.

All of the Crows material has that typical German flavor, with plenty of power, a wealth of guitar harmonies and melodies, catchy vocal lines and tons of great hooks and choruses. Fans of metal with “that German sound” will definitely enjoy this record. There are only eight songs on The Dying Race, so the playing time runs short at nearly 37 minutes. But every song is excellent, and there's no ballads or anything and not a bit of filler anywhere on this disc, making it somewhat easier to accept the fact that the album goes by so terribly quickly (and also making it easy to keep playing the thing over and over and over....).

Most of the tunes hover in the midtempo range, with album opener “The Frantic Factor” and the unbelievably melodic “We Are the Storm” probably being the most consistently fast songs on the record. No Helloweenesque all-out speedfests or anything, just solid songs like “Too Proud to Fight,” with its memorable riff and great chorus, and the title track, which balances out speedy sections with its slower chorus rhythms. My favorite song is probably “Four,” with its stunning melodies and a huge chorus with great background vocals. The record’s lyrics seem to deal principally with the plight of the Indians—the cover art features an old Indian chieftain—and in the liner notes the band extends “very special thanx” to their Indian friends.

Leszek Szpigiel’s vocals are a highlight of this record for me, and I think that his performance on this album is better than on either of the Scanner discs he's done. He uses his higher range much more with Crows, particularly with the great background vocals that accent phrases and vocal lines throughout the record. The guitar work is also excellent, with well-done rhythms and interplay as well as some stunning twin-guitar melodies and passages. My only complaint lies with Bobby Schottkowski’s drums on this record. Overall, he does a good job, but he does lose the beat slightly sometimes (“We Are the Storm”) and the double-bass drumming is rather poor in several songs, sounding uneven and forced, as if he’s barely maintaining control of his feet. Bear in mind that I’m speaking as a drummer here—the drum playing doesn’t ruin the record or anything, and it certainly doesn’t affect my absolute enjoyment of this album (unlike Paul Bostaph’s graceless overplaying on Slayer’s Divine Intervention, which was a wretched album anyway).

The overall sound of the record is quite good, with solid production courtesy of Waldemar Sorychta (who produced Tiamat's psychedelic-metal masterpiece Wildhoney and who is currently wasting his time as guitarist in Grip Inc.). Though all the tracks were recorded in Dortmund, Germany, the disc was mixed at the well-respected Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida, the facility responsible for output by bands like Leviathan and the once-great Iced Earth. There's not much treble in the mix, which often makes it difficult to hear the hi-hat and ride cymbal, and the whole disc a bit quieter than most discs (sounding slightly muffled or muted), but otherwise the record sounds great.

Sounds Here's sound clips from two of the songs off the record. This is a highly recommended album, and these short sound files should show you why.

"Four"

Too Proud to Fight

Links The web site below is the only other place that I've ever seen anything about Crows. This site has sound clips from an extensive list of underground bands and features the entire Crows tune "The Frantic Factor." Check it out under the "Bands" section.

If anyone knows of other Crows pages or any other sources of information on the band, please send me some mail and let me know. Thanks.