{"id":21286,"date":"2012-07-31T05:51:53","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T10:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=21286"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:17:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:17:12","slug":"stutz-3cd-box-set-killer-marching-into-hell-keep-runnin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/stutz-3cd-box-set-killer-marching-into-hell-keep-runnin\/","title":{"rendered":"Stutz | 3CD Box Set: Killer, Marching Into Hell & Keep Runnin\u2019<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"The Stormspell label may be best known for their high quality collections of rare and previously unavailable thrash metal, but every once in a while they\u2019ll come up with a real gem from the melodic hard rock era. They did it a few years back with their Sergeant reissues, and they\u2019ve done it again this year with their comprehensive 3-disc box set by the band Stutz. If you\u2019re scratching your head right now and wondering who the hell Stutz is, the band was active in the Ohio scene throughout the \u201880s, and their albums are all but impossible to find and have never been released on CD previously.<\/p>\n

However overlooked and unknown they may be, Stutz has a sound any child of the \u201880s will find familiar. The band\u2019s early material had a somewhat bluesy, melodic rock sound that brings to mind Y&T and maybe TKO and Rail, but as the decade progressed the band took on a harder rocking, more metallic edge. Remember when Don Dokken was supposed to take over the lead vocal spot for the Scorpions? Stutz\u2019s 1986 album Tearin\u2019 Up the Night<\/em> sounds like the lost album those guys never got the chance to make. There are traces of Leatherwolf, King Kobra, TKO, Aldo Nova and a lot of other great \u201880s bands throughout this 3-disc set, and that instant familiarity isn\u2019t the only great thing about Stutz\u2019s sound. The band had a great balance between hard rocking guitars and infectious melodies, and strong vocals. Some of their early recordings are a bit too quirky and synth-driven, but for the most part this is first class melodic hard rock.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you get in the set: Disc 1 is titled Killer<\/em>, and includes the band\u2019s 1983 album Made in USA<\/em>, the 1981 Blowin\u2019 My Mind<\/em> single and a pair of bonus tracks. Disc 2 is titled Marching Into Hell<\/em>, and includes the band\u2019s 1986 full-length Tearin\u2019 Up the Night<\/em> as well as four bonus tracks. Disc 3 is titled Keep Runnin\u2019<\/em>, and is a collection of the remaining previously unreleased Stutz recordings. All told you\u2019re looking at 43 vintage melodic rock tracks that have never before been released on CD. The songs have all been digitally remastered, and when you consider the source material it\u2019s nothing short of amazing that they sound this good. There are also new cover illustrations for each disc, and they\u2019re all pretty memorable. Stormspell has earned their reputation for reissues that look as good as they sound, and this is no exception.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obviously a leap of faith to take a chance on a box set from a band you\u2019ve never heard of, but if you\u2019re a serious fan of the \u201880s melodic hard rock sound, this Stutz set is well worth the gamble. It\u2019s like a tour of the decade\u2019s melodic rock evolution on three discs.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Rock, Heavy Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBilly Dillinger (b) (v)
\nVZ-Rizer (d)
\nJerze Razz (g)
\nAjax Stone (k) (v)
\nJake Banshee (v) (g)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:<\/p>\n

\"\"Disc 1 (Killer<\/em>)
\n1.\tStarking
\n2.\tI Am Gone
\n3.\tPlaying With My Heart
\n4.\tBaby Baby I Do
\n5.\tThink Pink
\n6.\tSomehow I Knew It
\n7.\tShe Keeps On Lovin\u2019 Me
\n8.\tKiller
\n9.\tWishin\u2019 the Night Would Last
\n10.\tJust One Moment
\n11.\tBlowin\u2019 My Mind
\n12.\tLet\u2019s Do It Again
\n13.\tChampion
\n14.\tTuned to the Night<\/p>\n

\"\"Disc 2 (Marching Into Hell<\/em>)
\n1.\tPrelude
\n2.\tMarching Into Hell
\n3.\tProphecy
\n4.\tSearching
\n5.\tLove Struck
\n6.\tFlame In Your Heart
\n7.\tStand Up
\n8.\tTearing Up the Night
\n9.\tGive Me a Woman that Rocks
\n10.\tKiller
\n11.\tMake Love
\n12.\tShot Down
\n13.\tYou Know I Know
\n14.\tPlaying With My Heart (1988)
\n15.\tJust One Moment (1988)<\/p>\n

\"\"Disc 3 (Keep Runnin\u2019<\/em>)
\n1.\tSomewhere in the Night
\n2.\tChristine
\n3.\tLies
\n4.\tThat\u2019s Enough When You Are Young
\n5.\tShot Down (alternate version)
\n6.\tKiller (1988)
\n7.\tBullets of Love
\n8.\tKeep Running
\n9.\tCan\u2019t Stop Loving You
\n10.\tDanger Danger
\n11.\tCould Be Good, Could Be Bad
\n12.\tDouble Shot
\n13.\tCome On Let\u2019s Go
\n14.\tGirls Love to Be Loved
\n15.\tHeaven
\n16.\tSo You Think You\u2019re in Love<\/p>\n

Label: Stormspell<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist — The Stormspell label may be best known for their high quality collections of rare and previously unavailable thrash metal, but every once in a while they\u2019ll come up […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[336,2491,2901,334,5294],"class_list":{"0":"post-21286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-heavy-metal","9":"tag-melodic-rock","10":"tag-review","11":"tag-stormspell"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}