With their first two albums, these Swedes showed they could do some good stuff, but not consistently - rather like Mob Rules. But, starting with the monstrous "The Book Of Heavy Metal (March Of The Metallians)", this has them powering out of the stables with plenty of hard-hitting metal goodness. Yes, there are "we live for rock/metal" lyrics all over the place once more, but they justify that living with such tracks as the afore-mentioned piece, as well as "Into The Moonlight", "Chosen Twice" and "M.O.M." The only real disappointment is at the end - "Only For The Night", rather like "Crusaders' Anthem" earlier, veers too much towards eighties glam rock, while the ballad "Unbreakable Chain" is an unfortunate choice with which to conclude things. This record needed to finish with a bang, but instead got a whimper.
Nonetheless, there's enough great stuff on here to justify its place in any book of heavy metal.
Guitarist Gus G. and drummer Snowy Shaw left after this.
****
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