FORGOTTEN GEMS: RENEGADE-RENEGADE

Sri Lanka
1986

Germany's Renegade were formed in the early eighties. Brothers Peter Scholl (guitar/vocals) and Michael Scholl (drums/backing vocals) were no doubt inspired as much by the NWOBHM movement as they were by fellow German bands like Accept and the Scorpions. This 1986 album offers Teutonic speed/heavy metal on the album opener "Dragonslayer (Burn In Hell)" before "Kids In Leather" crashes through the door with the band's take on Judas Priest/Accept style metal. "Give Me Some Shocks" walks a Saxon path loud and proud as only a German band can. "Broken Bones" is fist pumping heavy metal. Again born of German steel it has a thunderous ring to it and shows why heavy metal in the early days was so much fun. While it is true that some of this sounds dated even for 1986 standards Renegade pulls the listener in with it's over the top enthusiasm. "Fire" for instance is nothing you haven't heard before but when the band kicks into gear you'll find yourself pulled in with it's addictive chorus. "Have Some Drinks" offers a lighter note. It's their take on AC/DC's hard drinking lifestyle done in a down and dirty speed metal fashion. One can't help but sit back and enjoy an album that represents heavy metal's heyday when times were simpler and singing about dragons, women and drinking beer was actually cool. While this album by itself would be near impossible to track down Karthago Records released Renegade's s/t along with their 1991 Lost Angels on a single CD in 2006. Calling the album "The Narrow Way" it is really just Renegade's two albums collected in one neat package. While I've always preferred their debut to Lost Angels it is still a good way to get two albums for the price of one. Renegade escaped recognition the first time around which is a shame because their music is just straight up heavy metal worship. Kids today might not get what all the fuss is about but metal used to be actually fun. More often than not today it is all dark and depressing. Back in the day you could lose yourself in a world of fantasy where heavy metal was mythical and larger than life. Today's metal lacks that feeling.