When I was playing this I kept thinking that it sounded so much like the Eighties that I hoped that it was a reissue, so imagine my relief when I discovered that it was! Jackal started in Holland in 1985 by the brothers Terry and Stephan Pechler (both from Struck). They were joined by John Bouman and Rick Waalewijn from Stainless and the line-up was completed by singer Erwin Siereveld, then in 1989 the album ‘Cry Of The Jackal’ was recorded. Originally limited to just 500 copies, the band toured with it until 1992 when they called it a day. This reissue has been remastered, and includes the six songs from the original album, plus tracks from their 1987 second demo and from their 1991 ‘The Secret Inside’ demo.
Apparently they reformed in 2007, and have been gigging since then, but I wonder how they sound now? This album is full of the naivety of the time, and to be honest comes across as an independent recording, both in terms of performance and production (if this has been remastered I do wonder what the original sounded like). But, in the right hands these guys could have made something of themselves as their ideas may not be original, but neither was a great deal that was coming out at this time and the two guitarists have a strong understanding of each other, and Erwin has a fine set of pipes. To my ears this is more of a historical artefact than an album that I would rush to play repeatedly, but I am intrigued enough that if they now headed back into a studio I would want to hear the results.
