Fist - Hot Spikes

Fist's sophomore album Hot Spikes remains one of the most unique and bizarre albums in the history of hard rock music. This is an amalgamation of hard rock with what sounds like electrofunk. As odd as that may seem, the liberal use of electronic synthesizers with funky bass rhythms make this album a true hard rock anomaly, but it sure is a catchy one. The songs Hot Spikes and Rock n Roll Suicide are historically important for Fist because they mark the first times front-man Ron Chenier uses his signature Ronch vocals, the deep and raspy snarls that are reminiscent of Lemmy's from Motorhead. These would later, with the exception of the album In the Red, become the iconic style of singing used by Fist in general. However, most of the album features Chenier using a cleaner style of singing, or other vocalists besides Chenier himself. A lot of these tracks are infectiously repetitious, but in a way that makes them irresistible. One listen to Teenage Love Affair and it will simply refuse to leave the head for hours. The same thing goes for Alimony or Never Come Back. Granted, this is not usually what hard rock bands try to do. They barely fit the mold whatsoever. Besides a bass, It's a Sin doesn't even feature an electric guitar of any sort. Every song on the album could almost be said to take the instrumental approach of Who Are You? from Black Sabbaths fifth album, but with a more happy-go-lucky tone. The only difference is that there is a decent amount of hard rock guitar on most tracks. This album is commendable for daring to be different at a time when this genre of music was moving toward uniformity. While most metal fans are so because they enjoy the standard sounds of hard rock and metal, there are many fans who surely can appreciate something that is bold and original. Hot Spikes is very intriguing and fun. This release is an experiment that was successful.