MCOIL — All Our Hopes (review)

Album · 1979 · Hard Rock

4/5 · 2021-11-27
siLLy puPPy

One of those obscure acts from the heavier rock side of Germany’s 1970s Krautrock craze and sounding more like a side order of salad dressing at a McDonald’s restaurant, the band MCOIL emerged in 1976 in Ochsenhausen and stuck around for about ten years only leaving this sole album ALL OUR HOPES in its wake. In many ways MCOIL was a typical hard rock leaning band with excellent keyboard work in the vein of Deep Purple, early Uriah Heep and Quatermass however with the grizzled vocal style of lead singer Walter Utz, more technically drumming courtesy of Andy Tischmann and a more progressive approach to songwriting reminiscent of bands like Captain Beyond and fellow Germans Twenty Six And Then, MCOIL stands out as a more accomplished form of the typical hard rock scene of the late 1970s.

Originally released in 1979 as a private pressing, this band literally existed in the shadows until a 1993 re-release on CD from the Penner label. ALL OUR HOPES has gained a bit more exposure once another CD version appeared on the Garden of Delights label. Given the year of release when hard rock was transmogrifying into the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and other German bands like the Scorpions were reigning supreme, MCOIL still had its musical tastes set to the early 1970s when progressive rock and early proto-metal coexisted side by side and the result is a very surprisingly pleasant album that exists within the framework of melodic hard rock complete with the talented guitar workouts of Karl Wild, the bantering bass thumping of Norbert Kuhpfahl along with creative keyboard contributions singer / keyboardist Walter Utz.

From a musicianship standpoint, MCOIL was in a whole other league amongst the competition with brilliant compositional fortitude accompanied by several virtuosic performances particularly in the percussive department. Utz’s vocals may be a hard pill to swallow with their Rod Stewart styled raspiness but for my tastes works quite well to give the somewhat polished musical scores a grittier street value thus bridging the gap between nerdy sophisticated prog and the more adrenaline inducing immediacy of 1970s hard rock. The keyboards not only provide in-yer-face lead instrument assaults but also weave mesmerizing atmospheres hence the comparisons with Deep Purple and other British bands of the same era. The dynamics and diversity of the album is quite strong with moments of contemplative space rock as well as balls to the wall hard rock.

Unfortunately there is very little info about this band so it remains somewhat of a mystery. Despite a ten years existence ALL YOUR HOPES was the only album to make it into existence. Given the lengthy run perhaps some archival material is lurking about and now that the band has finally at least become more readily available for checking out on the internet, perhaps some sort of unreleased material will materialize. New releases do feature one bonus track. ALL YOUR HOPES pretty much checks off everything that makes a keyboard inclusive hard rock band of the 1970s so appealing. The melodies are instantly addictive as are the vocal harmonies. The pacing of the heavier and space rock elements are perfect and the musical talent of the members is above average. Personally i really love the vocalist’s style which is quite unique as he nails the heavier parts as well as the softer ones. MCOIL despite the silly band name is definitely not a band to write off as this sole album is a true joy to check out.