Motley Crue
Shout At The Devil (1983)
Before Motley Crue became the commercially appealing glam metal stars responsible for songs like Kickstart My Heart, their style was more akin to straight-up heavy metal. Their first few albums were recorded in that style before their sound shifted noticeably.
Shout At The Devil, the band's second album, is one of those heavy metal Crue albums. While it didn't produce the big hits of later records, it still contains a few songs that are Crue classics. It would have probably made more sense to review one of the band's glam releases, but to be honest I was interested to find out just how dramatically the band changed their sound from the early part of their career, compared to their sound as glam superstars.
The Album
There's no doubt that Shout At The Devil is definitely heavier than the group's later releases. The riffs are thick, chunky and thunderous, the bass and drums rumble powerfully and the vocals alternate between a soaring wail and a...well, wail that is lower in register. Yet soaring vocals, courtesy of the superb Vince Neil, and powerful, kickass riffs (thanks to axe maestro Mick Mars) have always been a key component of the Motley Crue sound. Really, upon reflection, the elements of the 'glam' sound are all here in spades.
The album's title track stands head and shoulders above the rest. With a riff that invites the aggressive throwing of horns, and Neil's magnificent metal vocal work, it's arguably the first truly fucking amazing Crue song; and somehow, at the song's close, when the riff and the drums pick up in pace, it somehow becomes even more crunchy and ballsy. There are also elements of stadium rock in there, especially in the short vocal/drum only breakdown and the cavernous production of the song.
Speaking of cavernous production, there are a few other tracks that seem to have been recorded with a 'live feel' in mind. Red Hot, another standout track, has a positively huge drum sound; they boom and reverberate seemingly forever, and it helps that it's one of Tommy Lee's standout efforts. This is accompanied by a seriously cool riff, the combination of which results in a pretty cool song. Too Young To Fall In Love and Bastard also stand out for their huge sound and sweet riffwork (the latter also has one of the shreddiest, and best, solos on the album.) The band's cover of Helter Skelter is also quite good. As I've written before, the mark of a good cover is that it retains the spirit and elements of the original while managing to sound entirely like the band covering it...and Crue do that here, as Mars does Paul McCartney's original riff justice and Neil pulls out a fine vocal effort (surprisingly though, Lee can't compete with the original drumming of Ringo Starr....work that out if you can.)
Other decent tracks are album closer Danger, which hovers dangerously close to prog metal territory, thanks to a picked guitar motif, synth strings and a soaring Neil vocal (it takes the prize for Lee's best drumming on the album); and the Mick Mars guitar solo piece God Bless The Children Of The Beast, featuring a wonderful picked acoustic riff as the meat and veg of the tune, while Mars plays a multitracked electric solo over the top like some sort of heavenly condiment (WORST. ANALOGY. EVER.)
Outside of those songs, while there's nothing crap and the album remains a fun listen, songs like Ten Seconds To Love, Knock 'Em Dead, Kid and Looks That Kill serve as stock standard metal album filler tunes, with less interesting riffs and by-the-numbers vocals. Though I must emphasise they remain fun, mindless tunes that you'll still find yourself tapping your foot to....they just aren't particularly outstanding nor even inventive.
The Verdict
Some of my research into the album informed me that there are many fans of Motley Crue who claim this to be the band's greatest work, and that everything after this was a 'sellout'. I don't know if that's fair - I think their glam period produced some catchy rock tunes - but Shout At The Devil is certainly a very good album. It's got something for everyone - it's very straight up 80s heavy metal, but there's enough here that reminds you of the band's later glory years.
I rather enjoyed it, at any rate.
My rating: *** and a half
Standout Tracks
Red Hot
Shout At The Devil
Bastard
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