Description

2021 press on blue vinyl with insert. Limited 100 copies

The third and final album from Riff Raff shows a marked progression in terms of heaviness since their No Law and Order debut. Give the Dead Man Some Water has a more metallic edge that might bring to mind early Accept or Oz; imagine a less over-the-top version of Fire in the Brain and you’re in the ballpark. If this band from Oulu, Finland would have been from Birmingham, Newcastle or any other English town in the early 80s then they would have been considered a classic Nwobhm act. Now they never were that well-known outside their home country Finland. The album starts off strong with the driving, crushing and speedy title track which in my opinion is the best track on the album. However, the rest of the album fails to live up to this fantastic start. Hangman At Dawn is a fine rocker, Saloon Fighters and Dark Side are straight up metal numbers. The Who cover Baba O Reily doesn’t impress though and it feels out of place on this disc. The band rushes through it and in the process negate any of the drama of The Who’s version. Without the iconic synthesizer track of the original the song just doesn’t seem the same, and vocalist Kari Ilmarinen sounds like he lives under a bridge which doesn’t exactly make one forget Roger Daltrey. The female vocalist Kaija Kokkola who provided backing vocals on the album later went on to a successful solo career as a pop singer in Finland under the name Kaija Koo. The sound quality of the record is impressive. The sound is clean, guitars are sharp, and all is precise without being too technical. T.T. Oksala who co-produced the album also performed keyboard work. Give The Dead Man Some Water was quite possibly the very first Amulet full-length release; this based on the fact that it has the catalogue number WISH 1. Amulet was a sub-label of a record company called Polarvox Oy, a lbale mostly associated with pop and radio music. Polarvox was founded in 1976 and the Amulet sub-label started around 1982-1983 to handle the rock branch of Polarvox Oy. Overall, it’s a decent but inconsistent album. It also features one of those lovely 80s home made cover artworks. The cover artwork and title track alone makes the album worth checking out for fans of early 80s metal from Scandinavia.

Track list:
1. Give The Dead Man Some Water
2. Hangman At Dawn
3. Drug Runners
4. Shout Out n Loud
5. Dark Side
6. Saloon Fighters
7. Baba O Riley-The Who cover
8. Mourning Veil