TKO-In your face

Divebomb
1984/2008 Re-issue

I have had this for years on vinyl and the release date of 1984 had me thinking that it was recorded that year. Although a good album my thoughts were that they had indeed been influenced by bands who had released albums before that. However now with this re-issue (first time "officially" released on CD by the way) the liner notes inform me that this material was actually written in 1980 and recorded in 1981 with a different line-up than the one pictured on the old record jacket. Now those three years change a lot because doing this kind of stuff in 1981 puts them ahead of a lot other hard rock bands because the real explosion was still a couple of years away. So with this new knowledge I think that knocks this album up half a peg or so in the whole scheme of things. Vocalist Brad Sinsel was the only member left from the "Let it roll" line-up and they had wisely decided to drop the keyboardist and go down to being four piece. This line-up included a rhythm section of bassist Evan Sheely, drummer Gary Thompson (both would later be in Q5) and guitarist Adam "Bomb" Brenner. Some of the new members were more into metal and the band obviously saw the tide turning so they went that way as well. What we get is some rough hard rock with gritty vocals from Sinsel. I wouldn't say they sound exactly like any one other band, but I would say that fans of Y&T, 80's KISS, Twisted Sister and Black n' Blue would like this. It's a shame for these guys that this album had to sit on the shelf before Combat records picked them up in 1984 because instead of spending those three crucial years moving ahead, Sinsel saw members come and go as the album sat on a shelf collecting dust. This re-issue also includes ten bonus tracks and the booklet has lyrics and a background on the album.