Go For the Throat (1985)

The first album was very hard to get, I only found it as a Reborn Classic CD. Their sound was to be very different from the other bands in that era but like all good bands they got their taste of glory and of death

Vic Hix has a very particular voice which he can turn into rough but his best attribute is his dramatic voice change. This album begins with songs that are the classic sound of early Shok Paris not that fast but with a medium pace. The guitars sound to every beat specially on "Burn it Down". Shok Paris also has a slower pace that lets them do many solo licks and the bass sounds very clear. The first songs on this album don't seem extremely surprising but somehow the band seems to have some promise. Their guitar style is always going into the technicity and complexity that their music goes to. Hix adds great depth to the music with his vocals. "Caged Tiger" is probably the best example of their sound as fast rhythm. Again in this song solo licks are present just as interesting lyrics. "Never Say Why" is another great track, fast, and has enough changes to demonstrate the greatness of this band. The last song is their best, fast, very technical and the guitar is vibrated and played very fast. The drumming in this album is very good it stands out because of the bass combo that is very clear through out the album. Also Shok Paris likes to play the guitar on the high pitched end in order to give their songs melody and rhythm, this is also the reason why the bass/drums combo sound so clear.

Rating: 88
listen to a minute of "Caged Tiger"
listen to a minute of "Run But Don't Hide"

Steel and Starlight (1987)

The best of the 3 Shok Paris albums, it begins and ends in perfection. I would say that this album is among the best 10 albums in metal history. Their style is unique and if you remember their previous album you will find them more mature in their arrangements and song writing skills. 

The only thing Savage Grace's "Master of Disguise" missed was diversity in their songs but here I present an album which contains all of the elements of metal. "Go Down Fighting" opens with extreme majesty and follows a song that contains both speed and slow rhythms. This first song is an advent of the greatness of this album. "Steel and Starlight" is slower and brings a new style from Shok Paris they seem to dominate that medium pace very well and they write this song with excellent guitarwork. Many of the arrangements in the chorus are atonishing they even sound like a keyboard but it's their distortion. "Tokyo Rose" was the first song I heard from them and still I consider it one of my all time faves. It is like a ballad that starts with a majestic solo and then drops into a medium pace with a melancholic verse. It then goes to a majestic bridge chorus and then breaks for a solo. It repeats the chorus twice ending with the solo heard in the intro. The lyrics deal with a soldier off to war and remembering a womans voice and seems to call her the Tokyo Rose. "Rocked Outta Love" is one of those Shok Paris songs that remind you of their first album. "Castle Walls" begins as a instrumental ballad with acoustic guitar and electric guitar then turns to be a great medium paced song. It deals with a a guy being trapped inside Castle Walls, he doesn't know why he is there or how long he will be there. "Exhibit A" is the next great song, fast and with extreme agility and dramatic lyrics. The lyrics deal with a guy who is in jail, he goes to court and presents his defense, Exhibit A. He understands how all the laws are foolish and written in haste. He is found guilty but he still pleads justice in the court room as he again presents Exhibit A. All the other songs are more like their first album with better arrangements, but remember not everyone's taste is the same, but I tell you this one great piece of metal music were all the songs are enjoyable.

Rating: 100
listen to a minute of "Go Down Fighting"
listen to a minute of "Tokyo Rose"
listen to a minute of "Castle Walls"
listen to a minute of "Exhibit "A""

Concrete Killers (1988)

Almost all bands suffer from the metal fever, that is after two or three albums they change their style due to line-up changes and here is where they die. Shok Paris had that fate; the great success of Steel and Starlight became the reason for them to move to LA, the capital of metal in the 80's. 

The best song is "The Heat and the Fire" this song is written by Erb, Hix and newcomer Beamish. The rest of the songs all seems to be written by Erb and Hix sometimes even Madderwald but the style seems to have changed a lot. This song is medium paced and deals with love and lust, a guy who praises a girl and wants more of her love. I ignore why the other songs are not as good the second album but they still sound pretty decent. "Away Too Long" is ballad that is another of the songs that stands out in the album. It is dramatic and up to a point sad but still not as good as "Tokyo Rose". "Windows"(no, nothing to do with the operating system most of us are using) is the last fair track, it is medium paced and it does contain some interesting arrangements in the chorus that attracted my attention and a nice solo. When I heard this album I knew it would either be the last. MTV did show some clips from this album, another bad sign in my list. Everything that has a beggining will have an end, in metal a sorry one. 

Rating: 76
listen to a minute of "The Heat and the Fire"
listen to a minute of "Windows"