STEELOVER could be described as Belgium's answer to SAXON. Doesn't matter whether they play slow, hard, fast or soft, they have that kind of connection. That could also be because the voice of Vince Cardillo will sound like Biff Byford from time to time. "Stainless" is actually their third album. the first one was released in the eighties and was quite successful. As were STEELOVER themselves, as they did open for bands like KISS and BON JOVI. If it's the tour I saw, then that would have been the first time the latter came to Europe, and smashed the former in stage performance. It was their bare face time, after all.

But, getting back to STEELOVER, the second album was recorded and ready, but never saw a release. We can only hope that this will be corrected in the near future. STEELOVER do know what they are doing. They play very simple and straight forward Heavy Metal that is deeply rooted in the early eighties. The music starts off quite middle of the road, not too soft and not too loud. That changes when they start "Hold Tight". The volume is put up another notch, the drums are being hit just that little harder and the riffs are really letting it rip. Even the vocals are going from subdued to snacking your face with a wet towel. I have to admit that I like both sides of "Stainless", but I can't help it, the heavier side is the most impressive one.

My biggest concern are the lyrics. No, not the vocal lines, as they make complete sense from start to finish. Yes, you can sing along from the second time you hear them, but in this case I think that it is a good thing. It will coincide with your headbanging rhythm, so you never do need to miss a beat or break. No, I worry about the very limited grasp of the English language that is being displayed on "Stainless". Most refrains only have one or two words in it, being repeated time and time again. That's okay when you listen to an album once, but when you are trying to put together a review, you tend to listen a number of times. And to me, that was very tiring. Even though STEELOVER have made a good musical attempt with "Stainless", they could have improved with using an extended vocabulary in their songs. Hence the disappointing rating.