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If you ever wanted your money's worth, this re-issue of "Get Tough!" is a damn good place to get started. Not one but two CDs - the actual album and the bonus CD "Get Tougher" which contains live tracks, demos and other rarities. These Cleveland metallers play somewhat commercial heavy metal, often flirting with hard rock and with some extremely catchy and accessible melodies. Accessible in the sense that even non-metal fans should find some of their songs to their liking. If they don't, they're not worthy of sharing the air we breathe: You know what you have to do. ;) More seriously, this is some damn good, straightforward heavy metal whose only drawback is ironically what makes it interesting: Its commercial moments are sometimes a bit too commercial and might be a turn off to those who don't like to compromise one bit on their metal; Some of the songs are definitely more hard rock than they are metal, but still good if you like your occasional good hard rock fix. Overall, however, this is a good album from start to finish with quite a bit of variety. The vocals are about as clear and clean as it gets, but don't run away thinking of some "gay"-sounding Euro power metal singers: Think of a good classic rock/hard rock singer doing his number on heavy metal music. Top notch. And his vocal melodies are a major plus for the album, very much married with the underlying music for a very harmonious result. It's a damn shame that this band never got the recognition it deserves.

The bonus CD is more of the same, with some songs from "Get Tough!" in demo or live format, plus a few others. The sound is not as polished as on the album, but that doesn't take much away from the music. Fans of melodic heavy metal take note: This is a must.

Additional Information

Disc 1 originally released in 1987