UMUR
"Scandinavian Metal Attack" is a split release by Tyfon Grammofon, released in January 1984. It features 10 tracks and a full playing time of 41:08 minutes. Each of the five artists featured on the album are represented by two tracks. The five acts featured on the album are Oz, Zero Nine, Spitfire, Trash, and Bathory. The two former artists are from Finland, while the three latter are from Sweden. Out of the five artists featured on the album it´s only Zero Nine, who are still active today. Oz, Spitfire, and Trash all had relatively short careers, which ended in the early- to mid 80s, while Bathory had a relatively long and succesful career, which ended in 2004 with the death of band founder Quorthon.
To most listeners the most interesting thing about "Scandinavian Metal Attack" is probably the presence of the legendary Swedish exteme metal act Bathory. The two tracks by Bathory featured on this split album, are actually the first material ever released by the band. "Sacrifice" and "The Return of Darkness and Evil" are both early Bathory classics (seen with the eyes of today), and while they were later featured on the band´s debut and second album releases "Bathory (1984)" and "The Return...... (1985)" respectively, these versions were recorded by another early lineup of the band and therefore differ from the album versions. The rest of the material on the album is in a heavy metal/hard rock style, and none of the artists really stand out compared to what was the standard of the time. Nothing is really bad, but nothing is really outstanding either.
The sound productions on the various artists material vary some and it´s obvious this is an early 80s heavy metal release, but overall the sound is decent on most material on the album. Upon conclusion "Scandinavian Metal Attack" is a decent quality split release, which works a lot like a compilation does, which means it introduces the artists featured on the compilation to the listener, without going more in depth. Here we´re just treated to two tracks per artist, which provides a slightly better introduction to an artist. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.