Ax Victims

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Ax Victims
General information
origin Wuppertal , Germany
Genre (s) Heavy metal
founding 1982
resolution 1985
Website www.axevictims.de
Founding members
Frank di Santo (aka Frank Fanfare)
Roland "Rowland" Hag
guitar
 Tom Bohn
Holger "Holly" George
Martin Rocco
Last occupation
singing
 Frank di Santo (aka Frank Fanfare)
guitar
 Roland "Rowland" Hag
guitar
 Tom Bohn
bass
 Holger "Holly" George
Drums
 Martin Rocco

Ax Victims was a heavy metal band from Wuppertal that was founded in 1982 and disbanded in 1985. Most of the members continued as a melodic metal band Universe (only paused between 2004 and 2010) .

history

At the beginning of 1982 Frank di Santo alias Frank Fanfare (vocals) and Roland “Rowland” Hag (guitar) played together in a local band and decided to go more professional together. The 18-year-old Holger "Holly" George (bass) joined them. Various other musicians were tried out until the right people were found in Tom Bohn (guitar) and Martin Rocco (drums) in 1983. The fact that the electric guitar is sometimes called "ax" in musicians' language and the ax as such also fit the 1980s metal cliché, they combined in the name "Ax Victims". While the music was carefully designed by the individual members and brought into the rehearsal room, where it was given the final form together, Frank Fanfare wrote the lyrics alone. The resulting two-track demo was well discussed in the Dutch Aardschok magazine, which led to a record deal with the Belgian label Mausoleum Records . In November 1983, studio recordings for the album Another Victim were scheduled. It was released in the middle of 1984. The musicians considered whether the single release , from which there should also be a music clip , should be the band's favorite For the Ladies or the quick Shoot from the Stars , initiated with Raumfahrt-Control-Center - Countdown . The clammy label made the consideration of which song could increase the popularity superfluous, because nothing happened in that direction. After all, Ax Victims was able to perform in front of a larger audience in the opening act for Uli Jon Roth and Golden Earring .

For the second LP, Hypnotized , the musicians returned to the Hermes studio in Kamen . The release date was January 1986. However, she never appeared. Sometimes it is stated that it was published in 1985, but no one took any notice of it, it was not featured in a metal magazine. In The Ultimate Hard Rock Guide Vol I - Europe is claimed that the album "never just on the mainland and for some reason in the UK was published". One blog speculated that it was an in-house production. And because of the separation that had already taken place in 1985, following this theory, it was no longer possible to spread them. Evidence of the existence of physical Hypnotized sound carriers is pending. Roland Hag and Martin Rocco joined the oldie co-association Cash Only. From 1986 to 1989, Hag also had a successful period as a member of Steeler . Frank di Santo, Holger George and Tom Bohn formed the core of the new formation Universe, which remained true to the musical style of Ax Victims.

style

The advertisement placed by Mausoleum Records said: "Power and Melody on their first album". As if one had taken over the statement of the advertisement, the Metal Hammer wrote in the year of publication also of "Melodie und Power". Their co-worker Paul A. Royd described the style only slightly more precisely in his review : "Power rock with melody and pressure, which lives from two driving guitarists and a strong singer". The rock database Musicmight / Rockdetector, initiated by music journalist Garry Sharpe-Young , categorized Ax Victims as a heavy metal group. In the band Heavy Metal Made in Germany from Iron Pages it is said that Speed ​​Metal can be heard at the opener Shoot from the Stars , but what follows is - like a sham - "melodic-commercial". That is how Bernard Doe from the rock magazine Metal Forces saw it , who could only warm himself up to Shoot from the Stars , but not to the rest of the “cozy hard rock” (literally: “pedestrian style hard rock”). He said that the material could be interesting for fans of Accept , especially AC / DC and Krokus . "Melodic Metal, influenced by AC / DC and Krokus" was the summary in the Horror Infernal . For Holger Stratmann from Rock Hard , the album was “melodic heavy metal” according to a familiar pattern (Accept, Def Leppard ). Martin Popoff wrote in The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties that the band played commercial-sounding heavy metal, with sullen-sounding vocals and electric guitars that would remind you of Accept. The Metal CallOut website listed as "similar artists": Tyran 'Pace , Exxplorer , Atlain , Brainfever, Noisehunter , Black Fate, Westphalia.

Discography

  • 1982: Demo '82 (demo, in-house production)
  • 1984: Another Victim (Album, Mausoleum Records)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralph Buchbender: Universe: Old iron reforged. 25 years after the band was founded, Universe are back on the "Mission: Rock". In: coolibri.de. July 22, 2014, accessed November 6, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Ax Victims . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! Booklet imprint also: No. 5 , June 1984, pp. 11 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Otger Jeske: Ax Victims . In: Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Arno Hofmann et al. (Ed.): Heavy Metal Made in Germany . 1st edition. IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-931624-08-0 , p. 41 f .
  4. ↑ Universe. In: wuppertal-hilft.de. Stefan Mageney, accessed November 6, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Andreas Weiß: Ax Victims . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! No. 6/8 (July / August), 1984, pp. 18th f .
  6. ↑ Musicians in the sound check . In: Metal Hammer . International hard rock and heavy metal poster magazine. September 1988, Soundcheck September '88, p. 52 .
  7. ↑ a b c Ax Victims. (No longer available online.) In: rockdetector.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 6, 2015 .
  8. ↑ After a long time there is news from Ax Victims . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! October 1985, p. 9 .
  9. ↑ Garry Sharpe-Young , Horst Odermatt & Friends: The Ultimate Hard Rock Guide . tape 1 : Europe. Bang Your Head Enterprises Ltd, 1997, p. 45 .
  10. ↑ Jolly Joker: Ax Victims, Another Victim, 1984, CD 1994. In: ohrenbalsam.blogspot.de. June 28, 2011, accessed November 6, 2015 .
  11. ^ Ax Victims - Germany. In: metallian.com. Retrieved November 6, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Ax Victims. Another victim . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! No. 6/8 (July / August), 1984, pp. 15 (mausoleum advertisement).
  13. ^ Paul A. Royd: Ax Victims. "Another Victim" . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! June 1984, LP's, p. 57 .
  14. ^ Bernard Doe: Ax Victims. Another victim. In: metalforcesmagazine.com. Retrieved November 6, 2015 (originally published in 1984 in No. 3).
  15. ↑ Ax Victims . In: Horror Infernal . Heavy metal magazine. No. 57 (February / March), 1995, Rock Lexikon, pp. 61 ("Rock Lexicon" with separate pagination, here p. 14).
  16. ↑ Holger Stratmann: AX VICTIMS - Album - Issue RH # 6 - Title Another Victim . Rock Hard , archived from the original on November 7, 2015 ; accessed on September 26, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  17. ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 1-894959-31-0 , p. 33 .
  18. ↑ Cody Sparks: Ax Victims. In: metalcallout.com. December 27, 2010, accessed November 6, 2015 .

Web links