6 Under-Appreciated Classics Of 80’s American Heavy Metal (Part 2)
Tasty!
Hittman – Hittman (1988)
NY metal band Hittman remain somewhat of a forgotten anomaly when it comes to 80’s metal and yet their debut album, the self titled Hittman, is a stone-cold classic of the era!
Reminiscent of Crimson Glory, Dokken, Exciter and Queensryche, these guys excelled at the kind of melodic power metal that would have sent their career stratospheric had it emerged just a few years prior. Instead, thrash had taken hold and Hittman found themselves rudely passed by – despite garnering praise for their outstanding demo Metal Sport in 1985 – which left Hittman in a state of relative obscurity.
Sure, Hittman weren’t delivering anything particularly groundbreaking but they were bloody good at what they did and the uptempo one-two of openers “Metal Sport” and “Dead On Arrival” still hit the target!
What about Angel of Mercy? I was listening to their album the other day, pretty solid metal!
Good call! We covered it earlier in the year as part of our Unleashed From the Vaults Series (http://www.worshipmetal.com/features/unleashed-from-the-vaults-angel-of-mercy-the-avatar/) but it’ll definitely pop up in future entries! \m/