Customer Reviews

Hyperactive

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So is the bane of my personal interest in many NWOBHM bands: increasing production values. As most people know, most NWOBHM albums were made by Neat records, or something similar, and the records that they produced were of a key low production value that gave the songs on those records a raw, gritty elegance that actually made everything sound wonderful. On Savage's first album, they really let it loose in regards to their metal attack, and I recall reading in the album's booklet that they actually recorded the songs inside of a person's house! (I may be remembering wrong, but I certainly do believe that to be the case.) Just by reading that little snippet of information, I would by default assume that the album is fantastic. Well, it was! Savage's "Loose 'n' Lethal" is amazing!

Given that that album is a masterpiece of NWOBHM production, we now move on to "the troubled second album". Here, Savage still possess all of the heavy metal finesse that they displayed to the world on their first album, yet unfortunately they were given the privilege of recording this album under better production conditions. Therefore, the ultra-distorted guitars of the first album sound more... "civilized"... compared to the Savage nature we would want them to be. However, this is my only complaint! The band even added synthesizers in a way that actually increased the enjoyability of the album in certain areas. (In comparison to other bands of the sort who added synthesizers and their career rose with the same glory as the Hindenburg!)

Call this the band's "progression", their "maturation", or a continuation of their previous effort, Savage's Hyperactive is nothing to be ashamed of. I would quite honestly find myself blasting this album at full volume and not feel embarrassed to combat the forces of Death + Nu Metal with it. This is what classic heavy metal is, and it'll rock you like a hur-- er, it'll rock you with the fury of a savage!

In 1985, almost 3 years after Savage released their brilliant debut Loose N Lethal (an album that lived up to its title, a quite lethal dose of raw NWOBHM style hard rock, sporting one of the most brutal guitar sounds captured) The band resurfaced with lots of press attention in England over the debut. While the debut finally got it's proper reissue on CD a few years ago, and has become more readily avaliable to those curious enough to check out its 'more than any band' authentic metal sound, this second release remains much more obscure. But it's CD release is the reissue version containing 3 bonus cuts. How is the album? Well as compared to it's predecessor, it's somewhat of a letdown. However, judged on it's own merits, it's pretty great. In 1985, NWOBHM was dead, American thrashers like Anthrax, Exodus, Megadeth, Slayer, and others like Celtic Frost and Bathory had taken over the metal market, as well as the burgeoning hair band LA scene. So the underground market that still cared, in England, bought this album in large quanities but no major record labels were knocking. Musically, as said before it's good. The band opens up with another fast dose of pre thrash metal with 'We Got The Edge' the best song here. However the rest is typical mid tempo, rough and rowdy rockers. The key point here is the production. The debut's sound was so raw and so dirty, it literally sounded like punk and metals offspring, it was perfect. This albums production is very polished, the drums have that cliched mid 80's hard rock reverb. And everything sounds a bit too clean. Once you hear Christ Bradley's vocals though, you know it's Savage. This isn't run of the mill dated hard rock fluff. This album has lots of enthusiasm and energy. Key tracks like Blind Hunger (even with laces of keyboard) still rock as well as the double bass speedster track Gonna Tear Your Heart Out. Cardiac, All Set To String, and Keep It On Ice are also great just plain great hard rock tracks, although this album lacks just a hint of the creative riffs found on its debut, and of course the production mutes some of the proceedings here. Most Savage fans seem to recall Stevie's Vengence as the best song here and it is a definite highlight, contains some awesome guitar playing. The band wanted to sound more mature on this record apparently, and that definetly comes through. Although musically they sound the same, its the mix that renders alot of it as more "radio-ready". According to the liner notes that recall the recording sessions this wasnt the intended sound or idea the band had behind the record. But either way, if you can find this album, it is highly recommended, despite it's flaws, it is highly enjoyable and it's more notable comparisons with the stereotyped mid 80's metal sound can be overlooked. The best of Savage compilation that exists doesnt contain any tracks off this album (?!) which makes it even more worth your time to seek it out if you're a fan of NWOBHM or even just obscure 80's hard rock and want something you havent heard a million times.

Originally released in 1985, Hyperactive was the second album from British metal band Savage. Savage's debut album Loose 'n' Lethal was one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) scene's defining albums, but business hassles kept the band from issuing a follow-up until much of that scene's momentum had passed.

Hyperactive might have been long in arriving, but it's still every bit a Savage album, albeit a more polished and mature sounding Savage album. The raw energy and drive that made Loose n' Lethal such a classic NWOBHM album are gone in favor of better developed songwriting and a slicker production job. It's to be expected though. The band had a few years to develop as players and songwriters, and that maturity is evident. Still, this is a blistering metal album, and in no way did Savage try to go glam or arena rock like some other NWOBHM bands did in the mid `80s. Hyperactive is a hard-charging heavy metal album; it just has more melody and polish than before. "We Got the Edge," "Eye For an Eye" and "Keep It on Ice" are my favorite tracks, but I honestly enjoy the whole album.

It's nowhere near as essential as Loose n' Lethal, but Hyperactive is still going to be of interest to Savage fans as well as NWOBHM collectors. It's another forgotten gem from a band that should have received a lot more attention in metal circles.

Edition Notes: British Steel reissued Hyperactive in 1997. As far as I can tell, it's the first time the album has been released on CD. I don't think it was remastered (it doesn't say so in the liner notes), but it does include the band's 1984 3-song We Got the Edge 12" as bonus tracks.