BUFFALO – Dead Forever
Australian band Buffalo made the classic hard rock album ‘Volcanic Rock’, which should be in any self respecting heavy rocker’s collection. This album was released a year earlier, in 1972, and was their debut. They were a hard rocking band, heavily influenced by Black Sabbath, but able to produce a melodic rocker like ‘Suzy Sunshine’, which was deemed good enough for single release. Most of this album is self-composed, with covers of Blues Image’s ‘Pay My Dues’ (with a great freeform guitar intro), and a riffing version of Free’s ‘I’m A Mover’ filling it out. These are actually a couple of the best tracks, together with their own ‘Leader’ and the title track, and gave the band a reputation as reliable heavy rockers. ‘Ballad Of Irvon Fink’ has something of the Quo about the chorus, but ‘Bean Stew’ is pure heavy rock – all crashing riffs and solos. The only respite on the album is ‘Forest Rain’ which, while hardly a ballad, is certainly slower than anything else on here, and is a welcome respite before ‘Dead Forever’ reinstates the Sabbath riffs to end the album with some great hard rock. While not exactly an outstanding album, it is enjoyable enough if you like mindless heavy rock, and it is worth hearing at least if you are interested in what the band sounded like before it all gelled together on ‘Volcanic Rock’. Out on CD for those tempted.