After using 1982's surprisingly strong Before the Storm album to prove all and sundry that there was indeed life to be had after Bruce (Dickinson, now fronting Iron Maiden), Samson found themselves trying to convince their own record company of the same thing as they readied its follow-up, Don't Get Mad Get Even. With the New Wave of British Heavy Metal phenomenon now in serious decline and both its champions (Maiden, Def Leppard, and to a lesser degree Saxon and Diamond Head) and losers (errr, everyone else!) clearly identified, Polydor was quickly dropping its entire roster of pretenders, and it was only by the slimmest of margins, and after months of wrangling, that Samson delayed the same fate to get their fifth album released in early 1984. And another competent effort it was, too, even though no small amount of label pressure was quite evident in the results. Tellingly, typical new tracks like Are You Ready, The Fight Goes On, and Leaving Love (Behind) saw the previous album's anthemic hard rock approach pushed to ever more commercial extremes (think Leppard and Heavy Pettin') and harmed by dumb lyrics and big choruses (don't forget we're talking the '80s here). Certain numbers -- the energetic, AC/DC-based Love Hungry; the Accept-inspired slow stomp of a title track -- retained a distinctively tougher edge, but not as much as fans of earlier efforts would have liked, yet far more than Polydor felt comfortable promoting, ironically enough. Needless to say, the end of this relationship was nigh, and in the aftermath, Samson would effectively break up for a short spell before the inevitable reunion some years down the road. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi

1		Are You Ready
2		Love Hungry
3		Burning Up
4		The Fight Goes On
5		Don't Get Mad, Get Even
6		Into the Valley
7		Bite on the Bullet
8		Doctor Ice
9		Front Page News
10		Leaving Love (Behind)

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