KILLER DWARFS — Killer Dwarfs (review)

KILLER DWARFS — Killer Dwarfs album cover Album · 1983 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
voila_la_scorie
This is the 1983 self-titled debut by the Canadian heavy metal band KiLLeR DWaRfS. I don't know why I waited 33 years to get this. I knew their songs "Heavy Metal Breakdown" and "Keep the Spirit Alive" but never bought any of their albums. (smacks forehead)

Though the band would later sound and look like a hairband, the debut comes from some other metal territory. If Anvil are somewhere between Judas Priest and thrash metal, this first offering from the Dwarfs is somewhere amidst mid-seventies Rush, early Saxon, and early, heavy Triumph. "Gotta Lose to Win" begins a bit like "Animal Magnetism" era Scorpions.

The songs are built on excellent riffs and a simple structure of vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. Except for the lead guitar solos, there's little in the way of additional recording tracks. Russ "Dwarf" Graham often sounds a lot like mid-seventies Geddy Lee but throws in some Gil Moore/Rik Emmett high falsetto howls for effect. There are some gentler moments on the album when the music resembles Rush for two songs anyway.

The Dwarfs were often considered NWoBHM even though they were Canadian, and listening to this album it's no surprise. Hair metal or glam metal is often smiley metal: good party rock like Helix. The Dwarfs avoid the smiles and go straight for pounding rhythm and stellar riffs, blazing solos and tuff enuf vocals. This is the serious side of metal but without the death fetish.

My only concern is that Russ sometimes seems to be on the verge of loosing the note. Also, this does sound like a debut effort because of the relative simplicity of the song arrangements and instrumentation. That would all change by their third album "Big Deal" when they got a big deal from Sony. I personally prefer this album much more. It's raw. It's heavy. It rocks. Well recommended to fans of early eighties NWoBHM. The reissue comes with three previously unreleased tracks which are as good as anything on the original album, perhaps even heavier. It also means the album doesn't end with a pseudo-ballad that isn't far from reminiscent of a side B track from "2112" or "Fly By Night".

This album embodies so well the spirit of heavy metal as it was reckoned in 1983. I can just see the disapproving looks of parents...!
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