Shout it Out was the debut album from Maineeaxe – a Yorkshire based band forming in the mid-1980s to ride the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. And they made a pretty good go at it with this debut.
Generally hard and heavy with the required pacey riffing and the big shout along choruses in amongst some fine and dextrous soloing.
A more than worthy effort which as well as the heavy stuff they could throw in a slow burner ballad and the quite wonderful mini-epic of Steel on Steel.
A skilfully composed song of atmosphere with a cutting riff, changes of pace, big chorus and an overall progressive metal feel to it.
Run to the Angels is a meaty opener pumping along as does Bad Boys. Gonna Make You Rock typically NWOBHM with the big riff, no messing about lyrics and one of those fist pumping choruses which must have been a highlight live for audience participation.
The Game is the slow burner with the gentle start from which you’d think ballad time before it builds the momentum and later bursts out. Good stuff. The aforementioned Steel on Steel is the stand-out showing that Maineeaxe knew how to write the more ambitious, complex songs.
The title track is another of the fist thumping, straight ahead, enjoyable anthemic style approaches. Straight in your face. I believe it was a single and a well-received one in NWOBHM circles. Check it out:
Cold as Ice, Rough Trade and Rock City are certainly no back numbers.
Shout it Out has been hard to find on CD though recently I noticed both albums were available in limited numbers via Sonic Age Records. I managed to get my hands on both discovering they originated from the Brazil-based Classic Metal label.
As I type this post, both albums are shown there: https://classicmetal.com.br
If you can’t grab a CD and/or prefer the digital option – Shout it Out is on Amazon Music here: https://amzn.to/3EYBidD
Overall, Shout it Out was a solid debut for Maineeaxe showing much promise. Enough promise for a follow-up album to be made titled Going for Gold issued in 1985. I’ll put up a review of that shortly.