OSTROGOTH is a heavy metal band from Ghent, Belgium that released one EP and three full-length albums between 1983 and 1987, and all have just been reissued by High Roller Records set for release on September 19, 2023. I have been assigned to review all four, and hopefully, my dear readers, you’ve read the first two riveting reviews  (”Full Moon’s Eyes” and “Ecstasy and Danger”) posted on September 10^th, but if you haven’t, I suggest you do, otherwise it’ll feel like you’ve just sat down in the middle of a movie, so go ahead, I’ll wait………………….great, you’re back. Album number three in this series “Too Hot”, originally released in 1985, brings back the same lineup from the previous two albums and was recorded in a mere two days. Quick little side note, the album was initially titled ‘Don’t Point your Finger” with the band in a classy restaurant amongst well-dressed patrons and a little girl pointing her finger at them, but their producer nixed that idea at the last minute and went with the lizard. OSTROGOTH disbanded in 1989 due to poor record sales but reunited in 2015 and are still active today. Since you all followed directions so well and went back and read the first two reviews, you know I didn’t have a lot of positive remarks, so we’ll see if the third time is the charm.

Opening with the title track “Too Hot” is a pretty hard rocking anthem-based song with a stifling riff over a thunderous backbeat and a gritty and raw vocal contribution that blend well enough to give me hope moving forward on this album. Keeping the “feel good” going strong on “Shoot Back”, brings well-orchestrated combination of banging riffs and high energy vocals, that were missing on their first two albums, all infused with some strong and solid guitar soloing. First thing I immediately noticed is the upgrade in the production and mastering on this album, especially on the vocals, which at times were buried and sludgy on the previous efforts, and the musical direction added a distinctive “beast mode”, focusing more on bringing the guitar work to the forefront. “Love In The Streets” takes a bit of a step backwards musically, with fuzzy and muzzled tones and the vocal overtone back to a strained effort compiled with a lame chorus producing an overall lacklustre song. The best work I’ve heard so far on these three albums comes at the hands of the instrumental “The Gardens of Marrakesh”, providing a sinful ride through a mystical landscape of a dazzling episodic tempo and mood changes with powerful licks and a thundering backbeat. “Catch The Sound Of Peace” is a hard song to digest, it’s one of those songs that is “so close and yet so far”, there is a pretty nice guitar riff midway through but felt like they went off in too many different directions, thus creating a hodgepodge of contrasting sounds.

OSTROGOTH is a band of indifferences; they seem to have failed in picking a lane. The first two songs on “Too Hot” demonstrated their ability to deliver a hard rocking and punchy sound with strong guitar work and solid rhythmic melodies, but quickly lost steam with bland, simplistic choruses and lethargic, uninspiring vocals.