Gotthard - Dial Hard

01.] "Higher" - "Alright let's go!" Pure 80s hard rock that can be compared to a myriad of bands ranging from Y&T to the already mentioned Whitesnake of course. Although not up to the caliber of some of the hot tracks to come it is still a cool little rocker that gets the party started on the right foot. A heavy pumping rhythm and a bridge that serves as not only the high point of the song but revs the listener up to take them "higher" in preparation of the hard hitting chorus.
02.] "Mountain Mama" - A blues dripped masterpiece that is more Great White than anything else. Think the kind of intensity of "Desert Moon" or "Big Goodbye" blown out into a giant of a song, with some pre "Slide it In" Whitesnake trappings, and a guitar solo that incorporates some outdated 'technology' that Peter Frampton and Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" intro made famous and subject to mockery.
03.] "Here Comes the Heat" - Something tells me this was intended to be filler. Frantic and straightforward, a decent track all in all with some nice sound effects and a typical guitar solo that fits the pacing of the song. Great as the background music for a 70mph fly down the highway but still the weakest spot on the disc. "Hurricane rollin', speedin' over desert sand pedal to the metal, yeah, I'm doin' all I can hot wind blowin' in my face, n' I feel free when I'm drivin' on the dusty roads of no man's land."
04.] "She Goes Down" - Kicked off with a riff that is a slab of pure metal, this is perhaps what glam would have turned into if it had been given an extended lifeline in the early 90s. Melodic enough to dance to easily, especially in the chorus, but the sledgehammer guitar rhythm riffs are just crushingly heavy, joltingly booming and on a par in sound levels with the in your face drums. A fast paced electric solo using a different guitar tone fits in magnificently with the rest of the track. "She was the real black sheep around the county line, everybody's toy quite all the time, they took it for granted, she couldn't say no..."
05.] "I'm Your Travelin' Man" - It's stuff like this that makes "Dial Hard" an absolute delight in places. The lone bass thumping and a smattering of bluesy guitar picking, act as the prelude, then drums kick in followed by some gorgeous vocals before kicking it up ten notches into pure rock bliss. It is songs like these that made me fall in love with metal in the first place. Everything falls into place with a kind of perfection, sparse sections that tie the song in with the intro, contrast nicely with the full band sound that comes alive with the explosive choruses. This puts even some of Whitesnake's best to shame... could it be that good? Just listen and see.
06.] "Love For Money" - "What you see is what you get." The opening of a dropped coin plus the surprise ending of a girl on the phone sandwich the delicious delicacy stewing in the middle, wonderfully. Another killer rhythm created by the drums which are just crushingly overpowering, showcased right upfront in a prominent place, on a sound level that even slightly drowns out Steve Lee's David Coverdale-ish vocals. This short, sweet track is a personal favorite and easily replayable over and over again. "I love ya!" "Yeah I'm sure, baby.." (sarcasm dripped). (telephone busy hang-up signal)
07.] "Get It While You Can" - Back to the blues. Featuring a cool naughty sultry swing, and a climbing bridges that collides with the sex dripped chorus, this one aims for impact and pulls it off with ease. Slippery and bluesy, the pacing is often a little lazy, deliberate and taking its time, letting Lee slowly unveil each lyrical line with a lascivious edge. The solo seems like a fish out of water at first, but soon slips into gear and turns out to be one of the most memorable axebreaks on the disc. "You know what's wrong n' right, yes, you've told me many times, no guardian angel behind your back when you slide into the night."
08.] "Come Together" - Everything Gotthard touches turns to gold. Here they decided to smush two Beatles tracks into one making it even more sweeter. The original "Why Don't We Do It in The Road" is a perfect example of the Beatles music being repetitive to the point of wanting to pull your hair out, light it on fire and run around the room screaming. But the band takes that short little track, injects it with a potent mixture of absolute passion and exaggerated fire but keeps it to its stripped down simplistic roots and turns it into the perfect opening to their pumped up, ripped out, heavy metal version of "Come Together" which just smokes from start to finish. Amazingly some of Gotthard's best tracks are their interpretations of these 30+ year old tunes. It leaves the most recognizable hard rock cover of this song, Aerosmith's version, rightfully in the dust.
09.] "Dirty Devil Rock" - A sound sample from MTV's popular mid-90s cartoon, "Beavis and Butthead" usher in this slamming track about losing one's soul to that 'dirty devil rock'. It comes out swinging with an insanely addictive rhythm and layers on superb vocals that pull you right into the song and some blistering guitar that could have come from the dirty devil's pit of hell. Maybe not that heavy but certainly measuring up to that title in wickedness.
10.] "Open Fire" - Yet another immense song that plays off of the Euro metal intensity and a mighty chorus. The boiling guitar solo riles up and spills over into a repeat of the full throttle chorus. Straightforward in places, but not lacking for a second in all the inbedded qualities that make the rest of the album such a showcase piece. "Brown eyed strolling woman, I wonder if you bite, deep inside, dynamite ready to burn."
11.] "I'm On My Way" - After ten tracks of full force hard rock, they tone it down for a blues-kissed ballad finisher. The soaring vocals are definitely the attention-getter here, along with an extended sorrowful solo that leaks emotion in every note. The way the music fades into the background, leaving the only the sound of Steven Lee alone in the silence is mesmerizing and shows just how wonderful of a singer this man is. Not completely original but a gorgeous relaxed ballad nontheless.