ABOMINOG

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"Last one left keeps the band going"

With a cover even worse than "Innocent victim" in terms of its repellent properties, "Abominog" does not make a particularly good first impression. The hideous creature which faces you is a far cry from the Roger Dean sleeves which adorned some of Heep's classic albums. If a sleeve is intended to paint a picture of what to expect within, the message here is not encouraging!

This was the band's first album without their main songwriter Ken Hensley , who left after the disappointing "Conquest" album. His keyboards duties were taken on by John Sinclair (ex Heavy Metal Kids), while the songwriting became, credit wise at least, a team effort. One song written by the departed Sloman and Boulder appears, plus several covers including "On the rebound" by Russ Ballard. With Lee Kerslake returning to drums, Peter Goalby (ex Trapeze) taking on vocals, and Bob Daisley (ex Widowmaker) bass, only Mick Box remained from the band which recorded their previous album!

The good news was that Goalby was a much more suitable vocalist. The bad new was that the tracks all sounded the same, being straight forward basic rock songs, and the songwriting only proved that Hensley was going to be sorely missed. The performance is unexciting and uninspired, with none of the tracks being developed beyond the simple verse chorus solo structure.

An "Abominog Junior" EP was also released which included 2 non-album tracks. These have since been added to the remastered version of the CD. Of these, "Tin soldier" is a reasonably successful cover of the Small Faces song.

All credit to Mick Box for keeping the band going, in the longer term everything would work out for the best, but this album should be seen as part of the period when the band lost its way. Best avoided.

A terrible earthquake (one more) for the band (and the fans). Their emblematic leader and main stream for song writing has gone. Hensley who was responsible of so many great tracks and a sublime keyboard play in their early days is not there to help the Heep.

What will come out without him ? Kerslake is back on the drumming. The Heep also has some difficulties with their lead vocalists : Byron left after nine studio albums, Lawton stayed for three and Sloaman only for one. Although most of the reviewers were not really keen on him, I had no problem with his voice. So, let's hear what the Heep proposes here.

The opener "Too Scared To Run" is a good, solid hard-rock number. It has been quite a while that the Heep was not hard-rocking (their previous effort was a good rock album, but not hard-rock).

The AOR sound was almost ignored in "Conquest" which was fine with me. Unfortunately, this genre will strike back again in this album. First with "Chasing shadows" which is not too bad a track but "On The Rebound" is rather weak. I am not convinced with "Hot Night in a Cold Town" : the FM sound is still very present. As you know, I far much prefer the goold old rock than this. The same mood prevails in "Running all Night" and that's the major problem of this album. It follows a single song format, making the ensemble pretty boring and repetitive.

I admit (and therefore I respect) that Mick's task was daunting. He was responsible of the survival of this once great band. The Heep history reminds me the Kansas one. Great and wonderful band for several years, very prolific and then the deep descent to tasteless albums and the dispersal of some prominent band members. Let's hope for the Heep that they will find a way to regain some of their past brilliance. It is not with this effort that they will succeed though.

I really do not like this album so far. Almost no song is appealing. The absence of Hensley demonstrates that he WAS the Heep (even if their last releases didn't match their legendary albums). There is no one who can take his role on a consistent manner in terms of songwriting. I wish that in future releases, the band members will unite and join forces a little better to create better songs.

"Sell Your Soul" which is a good hard-rock tune with a crazy and fabulous beat saves a bit this release. Nice vocals, great keys, superb rythymic section and a very good Mick Box. The highlight of this album and quite remininscent of the Purple I must say. The same feeling applies with the closing number. "Think it Over" is also a strong hard-rock piece of music. I would say that this is the direction to follow for the Heep. Let's forget about the crappy FM music and let's stick more to good (hard) rock music.

The first bonus track "Tin Soldier" is of the same caliber than the last two songs of the original album. I wonder why it didn't make it. It is superior to most of the songs featured. As long as the Heep plays good rock songs, there is nothing wrong with the band. It might not be brilliant, but at least their music is good. It was also my reflection with their previous album (which I have rated with three stars). In comparison with the other songs, the second bonus track is also pleasant. More AOR than the last three songs, but not too bad.

Thanks to these four songs and the opener, I will rate this effort with two stars. I'm looking for better things to come (live or studio).

It's okay if you do NOT like it, but I do .

Well, you may not like this album but . for me I do enjoy this album very much. Why? It's due to the power of opening track! Have you noticed how track position matters so much for some people, including myself? Yes, the overall album may sound bleak, but if the opening track is excellent, it might bias the perception for the whole album. That's especially true for me. By any measure, by any musical background people might impose on, this is definitely not an album that needs to be considered in rock music scene. I don't mind with it really. But at the end. what matters most is "what you feel" regardless how weak or strong the songwriting or composition is. This truly happens to me for this album where I really adore two songs i.e. Too Scared To Run and Think It Over.

"Too Scared To Run" (3:47) is really a great rocker that is at par excellent with other songs of Heep like "Look At Yourself" or "Bird of Prey" or even "Easy Livin". The opening guitar rhythm and drums followed with hard driving music plus powerful and stunning Mick Box guitar work at background and transition piece are powerful and fascination. Bob Daisley bass lines are also very obvious and inventive providing groove, beats and rhythm section. Peter Goalby's voice also clear and transparent and it blends nicely with the music. Johns Sinclair also provides his pulsating keyboard / organ work beautifully. The strong point of this track is actually the melody line. But I don't know for some reason, the textures and groove of the music are also important part that make this rocker sounds really great. I usually repeat this song over and over after first spin.

The other song that stirs my emotion is "Think It Over" (3:33). It starts with ambient nuance which is then followed with powerful voice of Peter Goalby, augmented "beautifully" with keyboard sound by Sinclair. Oh man . I really love the notes Mr. Sinclair injects during this background while Goalby is singing. It's so touchy. The sounds make the music a bit of symphonic. Hold your thought for a second, my friend! It's not only this part that makes me feel "nggeblak" (Javanese expression that means: "my mind totally paralyzed for a second due to the beauty of musical scores being made"): the guitar fills that Mick Box plays during transition and interlude is truly stunning and killing!!! I mean it. I do not exaggerate the matter. If you do not feel the same, it's just that we have different music taste.

It might not sound fair to judge an album based two songs only (out of 10) but other songs are actually not really bad at all, eg. "Hot Night In A Cold Town" or "Chasing Shadows". "Running All Night (With The Lion)" is a pop rocker with relatively raw guitar work. Through this song, Mick Box tries to play his instrument differently as it does not sound as Mick Box style.

Overall, I consider this as a good album. One thing to notice is that even though Uriah Heep had changed personnel, but they still demonstrate their unique music sound that is very Uriah Heep.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

DragonForce "Live in Jakarta" May 19, 2007. Featuring Fastest Metal Guitar Virtuoso.

Hard album to rate: something between 2,5 and 3 stars, I guess. The first post Ken Hensley UH album is certainly not a favorite among many fans, but it is also very good. Ok, their sound changed a lot, but let´s see that the times were not really good neither for progressive nor for heavy rockers. Abominog is an excellent AOR-hard rock-pop album. In that field they were highly succesful, although I might also point that they´re not sounding much like Uriah Heep as we know it.

Even Mick Box´s guitar style is different. Only he and drummer Lee Kerslake remain from the classic line up, so I guess the others influenced a lot for the changing of the sound (and adapting to the times). Peter Goalby is surely a much bettter singer than John Sloman. It´s only ironic that one of the album´s best tracks was penned by Sloman and the also gone Trevor Bolder (Think It Over). Too Scared To Run is another great song. The remaining tunes are not as good, but they are not bad either.

For the time it was released Abominog seemed like a sellout for some, but unlike many other of their peers, they actually manage to produce a good, convincing hard rock album. It helped to bring them back on track and proved they were far from dead. I don´t really like their follow ups in the 80´s (the 90´s till now was another, much better story), but Abominog was the right album for that period and I was even surprised how much I still like it, after all these years. Certainly this is not a good start for a novice, but if you like good, well played AOR, and is an open minded UH fan, you should give it a try.

Alive again

After the mediocre Conquest, and more than half of the musicians from this album replaced by others Uriah Heep decided to go more hard rock this time than on previouses albums. First exit Hensley enter John Sinclair - a very good keyboard player but not even close to Hensley in manner of playing, exit Slade and return of the magic drumer Lee Kerslake - after 2 years touring and composing with another rebel from rock music Ozzy Osbourne contributing at 2 of the most stunning albums ever Blizzard of ozz and Diary of a madman, Kerslake return to UH now for good. Trevol Bolder aswell gone two and a half years to Wishbone Ash and return to UH in 1983, till then the replace was Bob Daisley ex Rainbow, and finaly but not least a new singer Peter Golby replaced Sloman (good choice). So, after all this replacements the music remains Heep but more hard rock with AOR leanings. Not a bad album among the good Uriah Heep albums no doubt, but the magic of the early days were gone. Anyway still some very good tracks here like:Too Scared To Run,Chasing Shadows, On the rebound and Think It Over ( a Bolder-Sloman piece) feturing as bonus track on Conquest. These are the best from here the rest are ok but not stunning. Abominog was a succes in Heep's career and sell very well, that's why this album is considered among the best UH albums. To me is a good album but not excellent. 3.5 stars and i will end quoting Tarcisio Moura

"Certainly this is not a good start for a novice, but if you like good, well played AOR, and is an open minded UH fan, you should give it a try."

Uriah Heep's ABOMINOG is their comeback album in the '80s(well, at least the one which received airplay in my area - Windsor/Detroit Canada/USA border radio). If you didn't know this was the Heep on first listen, you could very easily mistake this as a supergroup - sounding somewhere in between Foreigner, Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow and later '70s Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Peter Goalby(vocalist) would've fit right in with the aforementioned bands. The track _On The Rebound_ could've been a track written by Russ Ballard. Of note, Ken Hensley(original keyboardist) is not on this album(joined U.S. hard rockers BLACKFOOT). _That's The Way That It Is_ was the big hit on this album. Nothing too progressive on this album, but a pleasant enough hard rock listening experience.

Surely, the first album by the new Uriah Heep! If I didn't know in advance this album is a Heep one, I wouldn't guess it! It's completely different one, full of new wave sounding. But it still has strong sound, not like Conquest, but good enough. There's not Ken Hensley anymore, there is a new singer Peter Goalby. Everything is different! Mick Box thought to make a different band and that have had to be the first album by it; but there were an opportunity to save Uriah Heep name and he took advantage. He is the owner of Uriah Heep's name. The album is full of covers and that damages the Uriah Heep identity and alienates most of the fans. What other I can say about this album - typical 3 stars album. Good, but not essential!!!

After the departure of keyboardist Ken Hensley, guitarist Mick Box revived the band with this album of very well performed forgettable songs. Every time I listen to it, pretty much the only thing that stays with me is that the album I just heard sounds just like a lost Foreigner album. Well, that and the lyrics are just embarassingly bad.

At least the production is crisp, the band is tight, and the guitar solos are good. But other than that, I can not really find anything else to recommend this album. It's better to go back and dive in to the classic albums instead.