Metal Sword

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Metal Sword
General information
origin Duisburg , Germany
Genre (s) Heavy metal
founding 1982
resolution 1986
Founding members
Jürgen "Jay Jay the Fist" van de Wetering
Rainer "Rick" Schaffranietz
Frank "Rank Frank" Kleiber
Thomas "TA" Alkämper
Last occupation
singing
 Jürgen "Jay Jay the Fist" van de Wetering
guitar
 Rainer "Rick" Schaffranietz
guitar
 Stefan "Steve Thomaszorro" Broedner
bass
 TG Cunning
Drums
 Jörg Michael
former members
Drums
 Randy Tomlin

Metal Sword was a heavy metal band from Duisburg in the mid-1980s .

history

In the spring of 1982 the guitarist Rainer Schaffranietz, who simply called himself “Rick”, and the drummer Thomas Alkämper, who performed with his initials “TA”, founded the heavy metal band Metal Sword in Duisburg. First the singer Jürgen van de Wetering alias "Jay Jay the Fist" and the bassist Frank "Rank Frank" Kleiber joined them. At the end of the year there was a 90-minute program that was presented live. Received the attention of the public and the local press, the band set themselves a record deal and therefore recorded a demo tape . However, this failed the musicians, so that nothing came of the record deal for the time being. When they met the classically trained guitarist Stefan Broedner (stage name Steve Thomaszorro) and integrated him into the band, things went up in terms of composition and sound. The second demo, which was completed in 1984, was also well received by the Wishbone Records label , which presented them with a contract in the spring of 1985. The musicians who harmonized with each other had previously been on the road live intensively and successfully - for example, there was a performance with Bonfire's predecessor Cacumen in Dinslaken - which made the time for a first record release seem right. In the short time, however, only a few songs could be worked out. The mini-LP Harder Than Steel with six pieces was announced for March 1985, was postponed to the end of May and is then, since the production in the Bochum Wahn-Studio under the direction of Ferdinand Köther (the owner of Wishbone) and Ralph Hubert (whose own Mekong Delta project was very successful) had started, actually appeared later in the year. There have been reports of positive reactions from Metal fans, but also sparse feedback from Metal magazines.

In addition to the delayed publication and the meager press coverage, there were internal problems, triggered by the departure of “TA” for personal reasons and, shortly afterwards, of “Rank Frank” for professional reasons. With the substitutes Randy Tomlin, who had given a guest appearance at Warrant , and TG Cunning drums and bass were newly cast and in 1986 the self-titled LP started. However, Jörg Michael took over the drums , whether as a member or temporary worker, is not known. However, in the end no commercial copies were pressed, which is why there are apparently only white presses. The tape disbandment occurred at the same time. Thomas Alkämper ("TA") played for Airwolf for a few years, on whose 1988 LP he participated. Rainer Schaffranietz ("Rick") did not reappear at Sacred Gate until many years after the split . Stefan Broedner ("Steve Thomaszorro") has been a music consultant for film productions since 1995. Randy Tomlin plays in the Düsseldorf band Manticore.

style

In the metal magazine Crash, Uwe Lerch was concerned about the mass of competitors and said that the yellow sticker that emphasizes the title Disco is Fuck could arouse curiosity, but the musical quality of the six songs, which are not described stylistically, is disappointing. Stefan Wille thinks the sticker and the cover artwork on the internet portal metalpage.de are cult. The musical content can be enjoyed without finding anything really great. “The bid is made”, he writes, “because also quite typical, German Metal, which sometimes swirls out of the speakers speeding , sometimes pounding and makes the heart blossom. Good songs that stick in your ear and don't bore you, a unfortunately not so good singer, a thin but acceptable production and of course the anti- disco hit round off this beautiful record. ”In Metal Hammer , the style became Heavy Metal Brand "High Speed" indicated. In his band biography for the Lexicon Heavy Metal made in Germany , Otger Jeske wrote that the songs on the A side in particular “varied skillfully between different types of HM”. Disco is Fuck is a "speed grenade", is introduced by a "wonderful intro " and has spoken "the honest fan at that time from the heart". In his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties , Martin Popoff summarized the music on Harder Than Steel under the term "Biker Rock". The group pretends to be "tough as steel", reminding him of Iron Angel , the self-titled EP by Swedish band Parasite, early Running Wild , Blackout and Samain .

Discography

  • 1983: Demo (self-published)
  • 1984: Demo 1984 (self-published)
  • 1985: Harder Than Steel (mini-album, Wishbone Records)
  • 1986: Metal Sword (album, unreleased)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e David Klammer: Metal Sword . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! April 1985, p. 62 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Otger Jeske: Metal Sword . 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. 124 f .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Metal Sword . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! March 1986, German Metal Attack, p. 34 .
  4. ^ David Klammer: Wishbone Records . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! March 1985, p. 64 .
  5. ^ Full Discography. In: jorgmichael.com. Jörg Michael, accessed on November 22, 2016 .
  6. ^ Metal Sword. In: rateyourmusic.com. Hossein Sharifi, accessed November 22, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Thomas Alkämper. In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Biography. In: sacredgate.net. Sacred Gate, accessed November 22, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Stefan Brödner: Stefan Brödner. In: mediabiz.de. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Randy Tomlin. Drummer from Düsseldorf. In: backstagepro.de. Leitmotiv Online Medien GmbH & Co. KG, accessed on November 22, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Uwe Lerch: Metal Sword . In: Crash . February 1986, LP Review, p. 16 .
  12. ↑ Stefan Wille: Metal Sword: Harder than Steel. (No longer available online.) In: metalpage.de. March 16, 2011, archived from the original on November 22, 2016 ; accessed on November 22, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metalpage.de
  13. ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 224 .

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