Band : Keel
Album title : The Right To Rock - 25th anniversary edition
Label : Frontiers
Distributor : Rough Trade Benelux
Release date : 29/01/2010
Release : CD

Back in the eighthies I was a big fan for US bands like Quiet Riot, WASP and others. One of my friends had bought this album and was kindly enough to lend it to me. At that time I was pleasantly surprised by Keel, but I never bought the album myself. Now 25 years later, Keel have reformed, and even produced a brand new album. To celebrate this, this album was re-released, with the addition of two bonus tracks.

There are some songs that have withstood the test of time, and still kick some ass. Yes of course, this might sound a bit dated, and might not please younger metal lovers, but to me it brings back memories. I hadn't heard this album for a very, very long time, so I was surprised by this re-release.  Sadly what was true in the eighties is still true nowadays, and that is that Ron Keel, although not a bad singer, was somewhat limited in his abilities. Stadion tunes OK, great shouts OK, but technically not the most gifted shouter. On top of that, and that's something I didn't recall, there seems to be a lot of echo on the vocals. The guitar sound on the other hand was, and therefore still is razor sharp.

As I recall, this album was quite hard to find back in the eighthies, but then again a lot of other gems from that period were hard to get.

88/100

Erik Morren.