COUNTRY: Germany
YEAR: 1985
STAND-OUT TRACK(S): Ruling the Earth, Shellshock, Run with the Pack
STAND-OUT TRACK(S): Ruling the Earth, Shellshock, Run with the Pack
To start off, do not mix up this Steeler with the American band of the same name, that once featured guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen.
Steeler was a heavy metal band from the German city of Bochum formed in 1981 (as Sinner), The band was named after "Steeler", a song from Judas Priest album British Steel. They were pretty successful in the heyday of German heavy metal in the mid-80ies.
They split up after their album "Undercover Animal" in 1988. To the mainstream audience they're probably most famous for being Axel Rudi Pell first band before going solo.
Volker Jökel was the band's bassist under their original name, Sinner. Under that name their personnel had also included vocalists Udo Retzlaff (1981) and Karl Holthaus (1982). A 4-song demo was recorded under the Sinner guise in '82 (track listing: Halloween/ Love for Sale/ She's a Sealer/ Call Her Princess). It's unknown whether or not it was released officially.
After the split with Steeler, Axel founded his solo project Axel Rudi Pell. The last line-up (with Spacek instead of Pell and Zuccaroli instead of Yildiral) never recorded an album and played only live.
After the break-up of Steeler, vocalist Peter Burtz became the editor-in-chief of Metal Hammer Germany from 1989 to 1991 before taking on the role of head of A&R at EMI-Electrola in 1992. Between 1997 and 1999, Burtz was Managing Director of EMI Germany. He then went into producing radio comedy with parodist Elmar Brandt, earning the Deutsche Comedypreis (German Comedy Prize) in 1999 for their "Die Gerd-Show", named after then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Burtz and Brandt landed various Top 20 hits spoofing the singing Chancellor, most notably 2002's "Steuersong" ("Tax Song"). Burtz is now the manager of controversial German TV host and political satirist Jan Böhmermann.
Trivia: Axel and Thomas both played guitars on the first release of the German metal all-star project X-Mas Project in 1985.
OPINION: How to rate this? The music is FANTASTIC, but boy would they have been better off with another singer. I know it’s a matter of taste, but for me the singer is pure GARBAGE, not even charmingly bad, just bad. When the ballad ”Heading for the End” starts, I almost think it’s a joke, looking over my shoulder to see if it’s a prank and I’m being filmed. Holy shit the singer was bad before, but this is laughably.
So I guess I have to put a final rating somewhere in between, so I’ll give it a GOOD.
