INNOCENT VICTIM

Wow, Uriah Heep went from a hero, to a zero very quickly, it only took a few months. This is so much worse than Firefly, it's unbeilevable that a good band could make such a bad and boring album. The main problem is that this is way too poppy and the songs don't really have interest, though the musicianship is definatly excellent. There are only a few redeeming moments on this album.

"Keep on Ridin" is terrible. The bassline is excellent, but the music overall is just plain and very boring. The vocals are very interesting, though they just don't go with the song for some reason. "Flyin' High" is another poppy track, but it's so much better than the first. The mini-moog is refreshing with the guitar solo at the beginning, and the happy sounding organ is just good. The vocals just seem to annoy me on this, maybe it's because John Lawton just shouldn't have vocal harmonies. "Roller" is the best of the tracks so far, and overall it's actually a very good and funky song. It's got some nice guitar soloing thanks to Mick Box, and the vocals are actually good. The lyrics are not what they used to be, but they are okay for a rocker song. The bassline is very interesting sounding. "Free n' Easy" is what i'm talking about! Heavy Metal to the maximum for Uriah Heep right now. The riff is just so rocking, and it almost sounds like thrash metal, well, what it would really become. The vocals are loud, with the intense drumming and bassline. "Illusion" is alright, it's just to boring and drags alot for me. The vocal harmonies at the beginning work well with the keyboard work thanks to the talent of Ken Hensley, but the overall feeling of this song is very mixed. I can't seem to pick a side because, what is here is good, it's just way too bland for me. Lyrics are great. "Free Me" is in the same style as the first track, terrible, so to speak. It's just way to boring because John's voice dosen't sound good with acoustic guitar sounds for some reason. The bassline is very soothing, and very loud. "Cheat n Lie" is an okay track, but I'd put it at one of the bad songs on the album because it's so boring and it's too slow. The guitar is very nice and very atmospheric, but it just dosen't catch on, like most of this album. "The Dance" is not that good, though the guitar playing and keyboard sounds are good. It's hard for me to get into, like most of the tracks that are on this album. The lyrics are okay, but they just don't seem to fit the song very well for some reason. Bassline is very nice and loud, as usual. "Choices" is the longest track, and is very good. It's got some excellent guitar playing, and the keyboard playing is very and is very intense, like most of the synthesizer sounds at the time. The vocals are excellent, slow, and very well fitting with the atmosphere of the song. The lryics are probably the worst of the album, though, the only downpoint of the song.

This album is the worst, only cranking a few listenable tracks. Thank god that there were better things to come, but this one just gets a plain 1 star because of how boring and uneventful it is.