Unitron
Scream were one of the most notable bands of the D.C. Hardcore scene in the 80's. However, once 1988's No More Censorship came along, they had a big change in sound. Perhaps this was in part due to Dave Grohl joining the band as drummer, which makes it strange that these last two albums are so unknown. Before joining Nirvana and forming Foo Fighters afterwards, Dave Grohl brought a pedal to the metal in Scream.
While some punk elements are still here, No More Censorship is primarily an 80's hard rock record with some metal and aforementioned punk elements. It all comes together beautifully, and perhaps better than you would expect from a band taking such a different direction. Some of the songs meld everything together, and one of the best at doing that is "Fucked Without a Kiss", which opens up with a barrage of double kick drums and a speeding bassline that sound like a thrash attack is going to strike in no time; however, punk edged hard rock guitar riffs come in.
Some of the songs sound like they would not be out of place on a NWoBHM album, such as "No Escape". A great punky bassline opens it up before hard rock riffing blended with almost Diamond Head-esque vocal melodies take the stage. Though it all has this heavy metal energy, especially with the pounding drums at the end with one killer scream. The best song on the album is probably "Something My Head". How this isn't known as one of the greatest hard rock songs of the 80's, I have no clue. The vocal melodies are beautiful, the screaming metal guitar solo is fantastic, and the whole song has an explosive energy. The title track is just pure 80's hard rock at its best, with an almost AC/DC-sounding main riff. "Binge" is up there as well, which sounds straight out of an early Iron Maiden album for the first 30 seconds, then is followed up with more high-energy hard rock action.
After the album ends on an interesting note, with the short "In the Beginning...", which is basically a catchy drum solo with bass twangs, you're left with an extremely underrated heavy rock album of the 80's. If you're looking for some great catchy 80's hard rock that's a bit different, I highly recommend checking out this gem. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!