Way back in March in my Still Not Black Enough review, I made a promise to cover a few more obscure metal albums in 2018, and lo & behold.......I failed in that promise. Looking throughout all of my posts this year, I hadn’t covered a single other obscure record. Since there’s not that much time left in 2018, I decided to buckle down & think about what to do. Luckily, I had some inspiration hit me in the head a few weeks back, and decided to have an entire month dedicated to obscure releases, and not just obscure releases......but a look at Alcatrazz no less!
That name might be familiar to some of you, as I actually took a look at these guys already back in 2016 (Link here). However, in that case I looked at all 3 of their albums collectively. This time around, I’ll be looking at each record individually, and assessing what makes them work on their own merit. To get things started, let’s examine the first release from Alcatrazz, No Parole From Rock N Roll (Which coincidentally had it’s 35th birthday on the 15th last month), and see what potential the band had. Let’s begin!
Background
Upon his exit from Rainbow, former lead singer Graham Bonnet came to the conclusion that, if he couldn’t go back to his old band, he’d attempt to make a band in the vein of Rainbow, and thus Alcatrazz was born. Consisting of himself as Lead Vocalist, Jimmy Waldo on Keyboard & Backup Vocalist, and Gary Shea on Bass & Backup Vocalist (Both Gary & Jimmy were in the band New England prior to joining). The band did manage to snag Clive Burr of Iron Maiden fame as the Drummer, but he was only with the group for a week before he left, and was replaced by former Alice Cooper drummer Jan Uvena. However, the band was in need of a guitarist, and they managed to find one in the form of Swedish guitar master Yngwie Malmsteen (The very same guy I took a look at last year, which you can see here). With the acquisition of Yngwie, the formation of Alcatrazz 1.0 was finalized!
Upon this, the band settled out to rock the world with their music, and No Parole From Rock N Roll was the first thing they made. Released on the 15th of October, 1983, No Parole From Rock N Roll had a lot of promise & quality in it’s music, but lost of people just didn’t seem to notice it (It’s lead single was rarely played on radio, but weirdly it’s music video got a lot of screentime on MTV). None the less, it managed to get onto the Billboard 200 in the states, where it would spend 7 or 18 weeks (Wikipedia is weird with this) at the no. 128 spot. Not exactly the greatest place to be, but still they were noticed by at least some individuals.
Basic Description
Simple but awesome.
Sometimes when you’re looking for metal, you want something loud & bombastic. Perhaps something over the top & wild in some case. No Parole From Rock N Roll doesn’t do any of that: It might have plenty of moments where the guitar gets nice & screechy, the drumming is thunderous, the keyboard is an electronic playground, and Graham Bonnet’s voice is so powerful it might blow out a high-grade speaker system. However, the purpose of this album is to deliver a stripped down meal of fine Hard/Prog Rock & Prog Metal, and it easily succeeds in it’s task. It’s energetic without being overwhelming, over-the-top without actually going down that route, and is really just a fun record to get into.
Best Track
Like I said in my overview, the best track of No Parole For Rock N Roll has to go to the anti-nuclear themed Hiroshima Mon Amour. Dealing with the subject of the Hiroshima bombing that helped win the war in the Pacific, it’s the most serious thing in a sea of considerably more lighthearted music. It’s obvious that the subject matter means a lot to Graham Bonnet, as he treats it with a great deal of respect. The rest of the band has this same level of respect as well, and it’s this respect that makes it the best song of the album!
Hiroshima Mon Amour
The next best track has to go to the album’s opener, Island In The Sun. Even if you’re not an Alcatrazz fan, this is probably one of the two songs from the band you might be familiar with (Especially with metalheads from the 1980s). For starters, it’s an incredibly catchy song. Yngwie really shows his stuff on the guitar, Graham Bonnet lets his voice fly, and the rest of the band put in some good effort as well. Secondly, it has to have one of the goofiest music video ever released. Getting locked up in jail, but having the guards be nothing but women in sexy uniforms (Apart from 1, who I think is the head guard), and getting locked up because of Rock ‘n’ Roll is absolutely absurd.......which is why it’s awesome!
Island In The Sun
Worst Track
Suffer Me is about the only thing on No Parole From Rock N Roll that could be considered bad, but even then it’s not exactly terrible. In reality it’s more uninspired than anything else: the band & Graham Bonnet certainly are going through the motions, but maybe they’re not putting their all into it. Not a time waster necessarily, but it’s not exactly a song to seek out either.
Suffer Me
A dishonorable mention would have to go to the lone instrumental track, Incubus. It’s not bad by any stretch, as it shows off how versatile Yngwie is on the guitar. The problem is that it’s way too short at a minute & 24 seconds, and it really feels like he’s taking up a spot on the album from the rest of the band, showing off his immense ego in the process.
Incubus
After that, the album’s biggest issues are it’s age & it’s ego. Although it has received a 2011 & 2015 reissue, it still sounds & feels pretty old. I personally don’t have an issue with this, as 80s metal nostalgia is always welcome in my book & many others, but some music sticklers will have an issue with this. The ego is the only other issue, but that doesn’t land on Graham Bonnet’s shoulders or just about the rest of the band’s shoulders either. It really boils down to Yngwie, who tries his damn hardest to be the center of attention constantly. In fact, towards the end of the tour for No Parole From Rock N Roll, it felt like Alcatrazz was nothing more than a backup band for his over-the-top pretentious personality. Thank god he left!
Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, check out the link below:
No Parole From Rock N Roll (Includes Bonus Instrumental Tracks)
Overall Impression & Rating
No Parole From Rock N Roll is a fantastic way to start out a career. Sure there may have been a bit of ego involved, and it might show it’s age here & there nowadays, but it has stood the test of time for just over 35 years for a reason. It’s a shame that not enough people managed to jump on the Alcatrazz bandwagon, cause if they did, they would see No Parole From Rock N Roll holding it’s arms out to greet them.
No Parole From Rock N Roll gets an 8 out of 10.
Alcatrazz Month has only just begun everybody! We got the rest of their discography to look at all throughout November, so see you next week for a look at my favorite songs from Alcatrazz, then a week after for their second release. Until then, be nice to the warden will ya?
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