Formed in Glasgow, Scotland, this is a re-release of their one and only album originally released in 1987, remastered from the original master tapes. Heart of Steel Records is a relatively new label concentrating on re-releasing lost gems from the hey-days of hard rock and traditional heavy metal. Lyin Rampant – perhaps a derivative from the “Lion Rampant” Scotland’s alternative flag?
Anyway, ‘Crazee’ opens the album and what a track it is; uplifting and precise British metal, similar to that found on Def Leppard’s ‘High ‘n’ Dry’ album. Featuring ex-members of Heavy Pettin’ you can hear this influence especially during the track ‘Promises’. Some of the tunes get a little too light and fluffy, but all remain intact and relevant to this release, I reckon ‘Way of Destiny’ has its routes in some AOR circles, but it is still a rockin’ tune. The record label have done a good job, the sound is clear, and wonderfully mastered. You can’t get much better than this. Sometimes older albums sound horrible, remastered using digital techniques when they were probably recorded on analogue equipment. This sounds fresh. The soulful guitar solos work out the rough edges nicely and the vocals from Stewartie Adams are powerful and emotional at the same time, I guess from a time when bands had real singers, but then I am showing my age! ‘Fantasy Girl’ gets the tempo speeded up again, sounding like some Ratt and Dokken this time. The US influence continues with to my ears a Journey influenced ‘Say Goodbye (Sayonara)’, synthesised sounds and all. In all honesty, out of the eight tracks on the original album (not including the 4 bonus tracks), I would say 70% are good while 30% can easily pass you by. Not that they’re bad, but I just find the more rockin’ ones stand out more for me than the melodic tunes…but the melodic tunes have some of the better guitar solos - its so hard to choose!
This album appears to have got lost back in the day; thankfully it has been re-released for your listening pleasure. Fans of traditional hard rock and metal will rejoice in this Scottish metal music that has finally made it’s way onto CD after so many years. ‘Up and Cumin’ is a good album to find and a band worth checking out at the very least.
http://heartofsteel.nlz.it/
