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Classic Review: Railway - II
Railway
www.railway-rock.de
II

Label: Roadrunner Records
Year released: 1985
Duration: 37:38
Tracks: 11
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
3.75/5


Review online: January 30, 2004
Reviewed by: Michel Renaud
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 3.8/5 (76%) (5 Votes)
Review

If I ever heard classic 80s metal with glam-styled lyrics, this is it. Railway play some pretty abrasive heavy metal just about as 80s style as possible (well, this was released in '85, so it makes perfect sense.. :)) but with the kind of "easy on the brain", sex & rock 'n' roll type of lyrics that was more associated with glam back in the days. Granted, a good number of real metal bands (like this one) had this lyrical approach, but unjustly ended up being thrown in the glam bandwagon by some people. Musically this has very little in common with glam, however (except for a couple of songs that did not age very well.) Razor-sharp guitar playing, with some wickedly catchy solos, "II" is an headbanging fest that will please the nostalgic and those who can't get enough of 80s heavy metal (that would be me.) I guess the band can be likened a little bit to Mox Nix, albeit with a rawer sound and high-pitched vocals that could be hit and miss with some people, but his voice does fit the material here. Overall the album has a very positive feel to it, so if you're solely into the darker side of things, this is not for you.

There's a couple of songs that prevent this album from "fully rockin'" and that's Dreamin and I'm a loser, one way too lyrically cheesy (the music has a good vibe, however) and the other a very dull ballad (and I do mean very dull.) The album closer Stronger Than Rock has the title repeated way too often for its own good, otherwise it could be a very good song (downgraded to "OK" here.) Despite this, "II" is worth getting as the other songs make up for the dull ones. For your daily dose of "party heavy metal". ;) Word is that this was re-released, but distribution seems to be lacking.

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