TITAN FORCE — Winner/Looser (review)

Album · 1991 · US Power Metal

4/5 · 2024-03-01
UMUR

"Winner/Looser" is the second full-length studio album by US, Colorado based power/heavy metal act Titan Force. The album was released through the small German label U.S. Metal Records in 1991. It´s the successor to the eponymously titled debut album from 1989. Titan Force were formed in 1983 by the three Flores brothers Mario (guitars), John (bass), and Stefan (drums) under the Titan monicker but changed their name to the current one in 1987. At that point the Flores brothers had added guitarist/keyboard player Bill Richardson and former Jag Panzer lead vocalist Harry Conklin to the ranks. The band released no less than five demo tapes from 1985-1989 before being signed to the U.S. Metal Records label for the release of the debut album.

The lineup is unchanged since the debut album, but the harmony wouldn´t last for long, as U.S. Metal Records lost patience with Titan Force as a consequence of poor album sales, and cancelled the recording contract. Titan Force did subsequently manage a short tour in Germany with Anvil, and recorded a demo in 1994, which they shipped to labels in hopes that someone would be interested, but unfortunately no label showed interest and when lead vocalist Harry Conklin decided to jump ship and return to his former band Jag Panzer, Titan Force faced too many problems to continue full steam. When tragedy struck in 1998 with the suicide of guitarist/keyboard player Bill Richardson, the three Flores brothers disbanded Titan Force.

The material on "Winner/Looser" continues in the melodic US power metal style that Titan Force initiated on their debut album. It´s a slightly more diverse release than the debut album, but also similar in many ways. The music features a hard pounding and clever playing rhythm section, skilled guitar work (both riffs, themes, and solos are quite brilliant), and in front a world class lead vocalist in Harry Conklin. Conklin can sing helium high pitched vocals, but he is just as comfortable singing in lower registers (although he mainly sings really high pitched on this release). His performance in "Winner/Looser" is commanding, passionate, and quite frankly jaw-dropping superior.

Stylistically the material on the album inhabits a similar melodic US power metal space as late 80s/early 90s releases by artists like Crimson Glory, Lethal, and Mystic Force did, and for fans of that type of US power metal (the melodic sort with a touch of progressive metal), "Winner/Looser", and the debut album by Titan Force, are more or less mandatory listening material. It´s beyond me how they managed to fly so low under the radar, that they didn´t at least achive some sort of breakthrough, but maybe the time and place just weren´t right. There are of course thousands of similar stories throughout music history, but that doesn´t make this one any less sad. At least Titan Force are retrospectively recognised as one of the sub-top melodic US power metal artists from the era. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.