Maximum Metal Rating Legend

KROKUS – “Fire And Gasoline (Live)” (Warner Music)
[2 Audio C.D.s + 1 D.V.D.] - reviewed by: Chris (Metal Knight)

Track ListingCD 1 1. Heatstrokes 2. Mad World 3. Flying Through The Night 4. American Woman 5. I Want It All 6. Bad Boys Rag Dolls 7. Tokyo Nights 8. Strayed Awake All Night 9. Down The Drain 10. Fire 11. Rock'n'Roll Tonight CD 2 1. Throwing Her China 2. Screaming In The Night 3. Rock City 4. Easy Rocker 5. Backseat Rock 'N' Roll 6. Rock The Block 7. Long Stick Goes Boom 8. Eat The Rich 9. Bedside Radio

Let me state it straight away: I was never a fan of live albums, even by the bands I love. The very phrase ‘live album’ I consider an oxymoron since the sound of a live performance can NEVER be faithfully reproduced – just think that even the air temperature alone affects the quality of a sound. Furthermore Krokus, whom I have followed since their breakthrough 3rd album: “Metal Rendez-Vous”, possess a catalogue of unfailingly great albums with the one exception being their 1996 live: “Alive And Screaming’.

So it was with an understandable hesitation, that I first proceeded to listen to “Fire And Gasoline”, only the 2nd official live release of these veteran Swiss rockers. Thankfully, my fears went unjustified! This is, in fact, quite a creditable live album that can only contribute positively to the band’s longevity.

“Fire And….” is characterized by some memorable bluesy guitar solos and catchy riffs courtesy of Fernando von Arb as well as the powerful but versatile voice of Marc Storace. Actually in certain songs, such as ‘Bad Boys Rag Dolls’, Marc’s voice sounds even better than the original studio versions. This album really seems to capture the band in an inspired moment. Other tracks worth a particular mention are ‘Fire’ (check out Fernando’s solo), the classic ‘Tokyo Nights’ as well as ‘Rock City’.

From the band’s most recent studio release, “Rock The Block”, tracks to have surfaced here are: ‘Mad World’, ‘I Want It All’, title-track ‘Rock The Block’ and ‘Throwing Her China’ (personally I would have omitted ‘Throwing….’). The 16 other tracks are classic Krokus songs, basically covering all main Storace-vox Krokus albums. It would definitely have been a mistake to consider this live just as a promoting vehicle for “RTB”.

The sound is handled competently enough, although sometimes the post-gig mixing is very obvious.

A word is also due about the packaging of this release. The album, a recording of an entire gig done in Montreaux, France, is spread over 2 C.D.s. and also includes a video recording in D.V.D. format of the same gig on the aforementioned C.D.s. This, and the classy digi-pack encasing the discs make this release a worthy reason to part with some hard-earned cash.

My ratings:
Musicianship: 8/10
Tightness: 8/10
Sound: 7.5/10
Packaging / Sleeve: 9/10

Overall rating: 8/10

Related Websites: www.krokusonline.com (Krokus official site)
www.storace.ch (Marc Storace personal site)

Chris (Metal Knight)-luciferlament@yahoo.com


--Chris (Metal Knight) 09.30.04