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Killers - Menace To Society
1994 Bleeding Heart
Killers - Menace To Society

Track Listing:
1.  Advance And Be Recognised
2.  Die By The Gun
3.  Menace To Society
4.  Think Brutal
5.  Past Due
6.  Faith Healer
7.  Chemical Imbalance
8.  Song For You
9.  Three Words
10. Conscience
11. City Of Fools
12. Dream Keeper 
13. Awakening 
14. Remember Tomorrow

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Paul Di'Anno
Guitars:  Cliff Evans
Bass:  Gavin Cooper
Drums:  Steve Hopgood

Website:  www.pauldianno.com

Horatio's Rating:  B
Average Album Rating:  B

Horatio's Review:
If Paul Di'Anno is as insane as he makes himself out to be then I am inclined to believe him.  Nothing else could explain this album, perhaps one of the most unintentionally hilarious in metal history, and one that begs to be heard.  I first recall reading about this in a 1994 issue of Metal Hammer in which Ian Winwood gave it one out of five, claiming Di'Anno had gone the Pantera and Prong direction musically.  He singled out the line 'I fight and drink, I shoot to kill, sometimes I like to see blood spill' for special abuse, undeserved criticism for sure.  Mind you what else would you expect from a seasoned snob like Winwood back in those days?  Three years later I finally hunted down a copy.  I raced home.  After five tracks a stream of tears fell down me and my fellow disciple in metals faces.

Killers' 1992 debut 'Murder One' was a solid collection of traditional British metal that savaged Maiden and 'Fear Of The Dark'.  It seemed Di'Anno was back and in charge.  Then he went to the USA and went crazy, fighting in public with gangsters and being harassed by the LAPD, which led to him doing time in San Quentin of all places.  At least I assume these events occurred judging by the lyrics here.  Somehow Di'Anno turned into a gangster himself, thanking 'metal gangsters' in his thanks list in the booklet.  The photo of Di'Anno decked out in full gang attire using gestures as if holding two handguns has to be seen to be believed.  Suddenly the band was a Pantera clone, one of three things Winwood was ever right about (the other two being the horrific late 80's Euro thrash scene and 'Divine Intervention's greatness).  They pulled it off well, although I have to say there's only five tracks worth listening to, the rest terrible.  Those five are worth it, heavy and ludicrous enough to warrant this a selective track summary review.  While Dave Murray is probably more of a badass than Di'Anno, he did enough here to ground Anselmo's face into the dirt.

Song summaries include...

  1. Advance And Be Recognised - Paul's on a rampage!  'Some of you fuckers out there call yourselves our friends....no more shit from you people...we despise you assholes!'  Who is this aimed at?  Dennis Stratton?  Clive Burr?

  2. Die By The Gun - Di'Anno says fuck the USA where he lives 'by my infamy'.  I'm sure old Larry down the road in this pisshole town I live in comprised of 600 people is aware of Di'Anno and his rowdy antics.  Handy piece of aggro metal, Di'Anno waging war with his arsenal, a pen.  He lives by that and dies by the gun.  The Crip's were all over him when he rolled into town.

  3. Menace To Society - 'Don't give a shit about the LAPD' bellows the big man.  I'm sure they didn't give one about him either.  Manic riffing and Paul's demented delivery are the pinnacle of comedy metal history.  It must be pointed out that calls to the Killers hotline are a 'cheap two pounds and ninety three cents a minute maximum call and three pounds sixty eight at other times'.  Who actually called that?  Wasting money to hear the latest news in the Killers camp.  'Last night Paul rumbled some Hispanic gangbangers and had his ear sliced and his nose bitten off. The tour is cancelled'.

  4. ? - Paul rants through a megaphone.  So bad even he couldn't give it a title.

  5. Think Brutal - The key track by a mile.  Di'Anno used to be a violent man.  'But I got wise to such hostile aggression, rather use my mouth than my fist, turn away from direct confrontation but still I'm seething inside when I'm pissed off!'  Listening to Di'Anno sing this in an American accent is the money shot.  Trying to be Pantera and pulling it off even better than them, with a thrasher of real repute no matter how over the top.  'I won't strike out if you try to provoke me, just shut your mouth its all bollocks you see!'  This is basically the end of the album in terms of quality and laughability.

  6. Past Due - This is the charm of Di'Anno.  No matter what he does he can't resist a bit of AOR, totally at odds with the album's supposed direction.  So immediately after tracks concerning guns, death and violence he's singing about a lost love with music that's similar to Maiden's 1980 debut.  That's what makes a legend.

  7. Chemical Imbalance - Di'Anno spread the quality tracks thinly, with a host of garbage surrounding it.  Here the lovable oaf attacks his ex-wife I assume, who left him alone in bed, claiming Paul gave her nowt but pain.  He did write in his book about duffing up his bird, which in his world is a heroic act.  After dealing with my crazed wife for many years, right on guvnor, I say.  Poke out her eye.

  8. A Song For You - Again he's on a verbal spree, this time regarding a star struck bitch trying to make in Hollywood and using Paul's significant fame to make her name.  Then when she's made the porn scene she dumps unwitting Di'Anno for Don Dokken.

  9. Three Words - AOR ballad.  1988.

  10. Conscience - What happened to this album?  It started so promisingly and degenerated faster than Megadeth post 1990.  This sounds like a reject from the 1992 debut.  The lyrics are even too bland to humiliate.

  11. City Of Fools - Unlike this.  Opening with a dude saying 'hey holmes' and a rap chant of 'hey, ho!' you know you're in for a treat.  Paul's sick of LA, it's a 'garbage can' mate.  'Ain't nothing big, nothing bad, just the same old crap they think so rad!'  RAD!  'Get outta my face, don't call me dude, or I'll hammer you down into puppy food'.  You read that one right.  Give me the gun.  If it wasn't for the money coming Paul's way and 'fucking' the babes of LA he'd be out of town like that.  What money?  I'm sure 'Murder One' went platinum.  At heart Di'Anno's a proud Englishman, 'I live for Queen and England dear, you fuckin' pricks come nowhere near!'  That's why Di'Anno currently resides in Rio.

Horatio's Rating:  B

Also be sure to read:
 Iron Maiden - Killers by Horatio