Black Hawk are from Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) and were one of the founders of the German classic metal scene, forming in 1981 and going through until the initial split in 1997. Their first album ‘Twentyfive’ was released after the band got back together in 2005, and since then they have released two more on Karthargo, before moving to Pure Underground for this their fourth. As I started playing this I found that I was smiling, and with the odd nod of the noggin, as what we have here is Saxon with some other influences such as Manowar, Geddes Axe and possibly Diamond Head. Solid bands all, and I became genuinely interested to see how the album would pan out, as while it was nothing dramatically new here was a band with their roots in classic traditional metal and they were doing a very good job of it.
Fourth track in is the title cut, following on from the hugely impressive “The Fighter”. It has to be one of the worst songs I have ever heard, with a vocal melody that appears to have nothing to do with the riffing that is going on beneath, and the more I play it the worse it gets. It is a real shame as there are some good songs on the album as a whole, but each time I get to this I either have to skip it or fight the urge to turn the album off altogether. Overall it is a solid metal album, with good vocals, and a desire to be the new Saxon (which isn’t a bad thing in my book given that they were the first metal headline I ever saw in concert, back in ’81), but they need someone to take them in hand. Without that song, this album would have been a solid 3/5, but it really is awful.
