FAST KUTZ • Burnin' LP

Ebony Records 1987
OK, I'm gonna get this outta the way right off the bat: the production on this record is complete and utter shit. The drums sound like they were recorded under water (and I'm not talking about in a cool Dethklok style), they're swamped in reverb, rendering them totally ineffective and at times nearly inaudible. Everything else is pretty muddy too, but after a song or 2 your ears will become accustomed to how crap it sounds, then... maybe, you'll be able to actually enjoy the album. And surprisingly, this is a fairly enjoyable slab. Not groundbreaking by any means, and prolly already a bit dated when it was released in '87, but regardless, there's some solid NWOBHM style Metal on "Burnin'". Catchy songs, and good performances from vocalist Keith Davison and guitarist Kenny Nicholson rescue this record from it's production maladies. The riff for "Fight To Be Free" shows that these limey louts weren't perpetually stuck in 1982, as it and "Dead Or Alive" are the most modern tracks on offer here... "Dead Or Alive" reminding me of PRONG's start/stop style riffing. The only track that is completely regrettable is "Girls Gone Bad" - it's a poorly executed and blatant rip-off of AC/DC's "Beating Around The Bush". Not to harp on about how bad this record sounds, but no producer credit or recording studio info is supplied on the jacket... I have a feeling that even the hapless hacks responsible for committing this abysmal production job to tape knew that they had created a steaming pile, and requested their names be omitted. Whatever, I dig this record in spite of it's numerous flaws (and there are others - omitted for the sake of brevity), but Metal's not supposed to be perfect or pristine... and this record is far from both!
DOWNLOAD: Fast Kutz - Burnin'.rar (67.59 MB)