Search - Gotthard :: Gotthard

Great band, great debut

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 01/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gotthard's self-titled debut might not have stood out from the crowd much in 1992, given the sheer volume of bands playing melodic rock at the time, but it would prove to be the launching point of one of Switzerland's most successful bands ever, and one of the few bands from that era that has continued to serve up high quality melodic rock year after year.



From the very beginning Gotthard has specialized in upbeat, catchy, feel-good, melodic rock & roll, and I'd argue that they're the best they are at what they do. A few hair metal trappings in the early days doesn't change the fact that Gotthard had a solid rock sound inspired by bands like Y&T, Whitesnake, Van Halen, and to some extent Rainbow, and that sound remained true no matter what musical trends came and went.



Gotthard's debut album is simply an incredible melodic rock album, and alongside Tyketto's Don't Come Easy and the self-titled Von Groove debut is one of that era's strongest debuts. All of the elements that made Gotthard such a success (everywhere but America of course) are in place here, from the slamming guitar hooks to Steven Lee's raspy (but powerful) voice, to that upbeat tempo that makes Gotthard albums impossible to listen to while sitting still. You just have to get up and move when a song like Hunter comes on. Even their ballads are impressive enough to keep you from hitting the skip button. The album also features the first of what would become several fantastic covers of classic songs. This time it was Joe South (and later Deep Purple's) Hush.



I'm a total fanboy for this band, so I may not be the most objective reviewer for this album. Still, I can't imagine anyone who is into classic and/or melodic rock being disappointed by this rockin' album. If you're into bands like Danger Danger, Tyketto, Von Groove, Fair Warning, Bonfire, or Pink Cream 69, this band and album should be an absolute winner. Order now; operators are standing by!"

Good heavy metal

L. B. Ivarsson | Rock City | 05/07/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The debut album from Gotthard (1992) is a solid rock effort and it's more or less obvious that Gotthard are influenced by Whitesnake's "1987". The music is guitar riff based heavy metal with some blues and a lot of melody. Singer Steve Lee has a very good voice and the rest of the band is without doubt good musicians. It's too bad that Gotthard haven't got the attention they deserve because this band is just as good as any other band in this genre. If you like Tyketto, Hardline or Lionsheart you will probably like this album. The material is strong and songs like "Standing in the light", "Down town", "Firedance", and "Lonely heartache" should please any fan of traditional but melodic heavy metal. My only objection (which lower the ranking from a 4 to a 3) is that the songs are rather similar to one another and in the long run they have a slight tendency to melt together."