SAVAGE GRACE
After The Fall From Grace
(Hammerheart Records)
123:41min

SAVAGE GRACE had a bit of a bumpy ride during the 1980s, with several line-up changes and the like. After their promising and energetic debut EP “The Dominatress”, all the way back in 1983, both their high-wailing vocalist John Birk and guitarist Kenny Powell left, the latter going on to form Power Metal legends OMEN. Two years later they would release the absolutely phenomenal Speed / Heavy Metal gem “Master Of Disguise”, just to follow it with a European tour deprived of their vocalist Mike Smith who couldn’t come. Band leader Chris Logue had to fill in during the tour and I guess he decided to keep it that way when the band recorded this album the following year. It’s not hard to imagine he must have been problematic to work with and he seems to have a colourful personality (among other things, he was infamously arrested in 2005 for practicing medicine without a license and claiming to cure cancer and diabetes), but the truth is that in “After The Fall From Grace” he shows how good a vocalist he was after all, while handling the guitar too. Regrettably, this sophomore was SAVAGE GRACE’s final full-length album, but it consolidated the standing of a truly exceptional band in the US Power Metal scene. Well in the band’s tradition of depicting women either hypersexualized (“The Dominatress”), at the mercy of masculine figures (this one) or both (“Master Of Disguise” and the following year’s “Ride Into The Night” EP), the cover artwork shows Gene Hoglan (strong contender for best drummer ever) in the role of an executioner about to lop some dame’s head off. Musically, this may not be as strong as the stunningly stellar predecessor, but it’s still, on all counts, an excellent album! Logue has a different singing style, but it fits the music wonderfully. There is a lot of the remarkable songwriting that make both albums landmarks for anyone into the eighties’ Metal scene, and that’s a real strength of SAVAGE GRACE – not just superior technical capabilities, but also the sheer ability to compose truly memorable songs. You become enthralled by a succession of wonderful riffs, bridges, choruses, solos, that keep coming throughout the whole album. The “Ride Into The Night” EP follows on this disc, with Logue perhaps even more adventurous as a vocalist, having gained his footing even more solidly now, in three more great songs and a cover version (DEEP PURPLE’s ‘Burn’). Arguably there are no anthems reaching quite the same level as previous tunes like ‘We Came, We Saw, We Conquered’ or ‘Tales Of Mystery’, but the spirit is the same and the quality is very high. There are still three more songs of bonus material, one from the “American Metal – Heavy ‘n’ Dirty” compilation LP (1991) and two live cuts (with material from their 1991 demo). Other than that you still have an extra CD, for the purists I guess, with the original un-remastered version of the album. More SAVAGE GRACE info you will find at www.savagegracemetal.com. Get this absolutely outstanding piece of Metal from www.facebook.com/hammerheartrecords.

Ricardo Campos

Ricardo Campos

SAVAGE GRACE
After The Fall From Grace
(Hooked On Metal Records)
36:18min

I guess I don’t need to tell you once again how great the 1980s were for Heavy Metal. Asides from the big bands that became commercially successful or well respected influential acts, there were so many other good to great bands who got nearly forgotten over time. Their albums are hard to get and their names are spoken mainly by those who know since that age of dinosaurs. But over the years, a lot of this legendary stuff got re-released. Sometimes you get jam-packed CDs or even double to triple discs. Sometimes you simply get an original album without much extras, like in this case of the second (and final) SAVAGE GRACE full length album “After The Fall From Grace”, originally released in 1986. Like with the re-release of the highly acclaimed 1985 debut album “Master Of Disguise”, a classic of US Speed Metal, some few weeks ago, the rather new label Hooked On Metal Records concentrated on presenting the album in its purest form. On the one hand, you only get not even 40 minutes of music (yes, back in the days of vinyl most albums didn’t run much longer), on the other hand, you get only finest musical quality in its original form. And “After The Fall From Grace” still is finest American Metal of that era. After wearing out (or scaring away) four singers in four years, mastermind and guitar player Chris Logue decided to take over vocal duties himself and did a nice job. And the songs on “After The Fall From Grace” are even a little better than those on the debut, in my opinion. In addition to finest melodic Speed Metal tunes like ‘We Came, We Saw, We Conquered’, ‘Destination Unknown’ or ‘Trial By Fire’, SAVAGE GRACE added more Power Metal styled mid tempo parts and even some epic parts to their sound, just listen to the fantastic title track or the great ‘Flesh And Blood’. And the final highly melodic epic ‘Tales Of Mystery’ even reminds me of the mighty first album of HEIR APPARENT. With all those brilliant songs it’s a real pity that “After The Fall From Grace” was the last full length album from SAVAGE GRACE. There only was the picture disc EP “Ride Into The Night” a year later before the band slowly fell apart in the early 1990s. Chris Logue reanimated his band for some shows around the year 2010 and received an infamous reputation in the meantime, but that’s not our story here. The story is: both SAVAGE GRACE albums are available again, officially and rubber-stamped by Mr. Logue. So, no matter if you missed the albums in your youth or if you are just born late, now there is the chance to catch a piece of US Metal history. For more, visit the band at www.savagegracemetal.com or the label at www.facebook.com/hooked-on-metal-records-102213271304559

Thomas Meyer

Thomas Meyer

Related reviews / interviews:
SAVAGE GRACE - Master Of Disguise (Mindaugas "Plix" Lapinskas)
SAVAGE GRACE - Demo 1991 - New York Tapes (Thomas Meyer)
SAVAGE GRACE - The Dominatress + Demo 1982 (Thomas Meyer)
SAVAGE GRACE - Ride Into The Night + Demo 1983 (Thomas Meyer)
SAVAGE GRACE - Master Of Disguise (Miguel Negrón)
SAVAGE GRACE - Master Of Disguise / The Dominatress (Frank Stöver)
SAVAGE GRACE - After The Fall From Grace / Ride Into... (Frank Stöver)

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