Search - Samson :: Head on

For Iron Maiden Fans, Nuff Said.

Fredrik Nilsson | 08/31/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some of the intros for the songs echo, early Maiden material. Most of the music rocks. BUT it is an aquired taste as is most heavy metal. This is very early british heavy metal. Don't expect Mozart or Metallica. Enjoy it for what it is. Notable tracks are the Anthems : "HardTimes", "Take it Like a Man", "Too Close to Rock", and "HammerHead". Close to generic rock, but guys like these are the ones that defined it, and influence all the imitators after them."

A NWOBHM classic

Fredrik Nilsson | Umeå, Sweden | 02/25/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The new wawe of british heavy metal in the early 80's are mostly remembered for exposing bands like Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. Other good bands like Angel Witch and Diamond Head are mostly forgotten. Samson is remembered for their first singer Bruce Bruce, who would change his name to Bruce Dickinson when he jumped ship to Iron Maiden in 1982. The music is typical british hard rock from that period, like for example Iron Maiden with Paul Dianno on vocals. The clear reference to Maiden though, is that the instrumental Thunderburst is almost exactly the same song as The Ides of March which appears on Maidens album Killers from the same year. It is co-written with Steve Harris who is given credit on the Samson version, but gives no credit himself on the Maiden version. Nuff' about that, this is a fine hard rock album. I like the singing and the guitar sound, but the drums sounds like cans. And Thunderstick (the drummer) bashes those cans like he's Animal from The Muppet show. I think the songs are good, this along with Shock Tactics is actually Samsons best albums. The song Vice Versa is almost worth the price alone, and fans of early Iron Maiden and 70's Judas Priest will enjoy this album."