FIST – Fleet Street [Bad Reputation remastered] (2022) HQ *Exclusive*

While not well known as other contemporary ’80s acts from the hard rock scene, Canadians FIST is a terrific band. Now Bad Reputation Records is releasing for the first time on CD, fully remastered, Fist’s third LP “Fleet Street” from 1981 – a.k.a ‘Thunder In Rock‘ in Europe, the same album but with different cover art.
We already featured few days ago Fist’s following album also remastered by Bad Reputation, and while is very good, just wait to listen to ”Fleet Street”. It’s plenty of crunchy guitars too, but this album includes vintage, parping keyboards into the mix, providing a pompy AOR touch.

Openers ‘Double Or Nothin’, ‘Thunder In Rock’ and ‘Leather ‘N Lace’ are fun rockers, but seems FIST reserved the best for the end; last 3 tracks ‘Evil Cold’, ‘Fleetstreet’ and ‘Open the Gates’ are connected in between and all are awesome. Before exploding with big guitars, ‘Fleetstreet’ has a long spoken intro and a mysterious atmosphere something that inspired many bands in future records.

Some Europeans may still know FIST as ‘MyoFist’, because that’s the name they used in Europe when they released this album, which also has a different title overseas: ‘Thunder in Rock’.
This album combines a sound that’s somewhere in between classic Hard Rock and early 80s classic Metal. A recording with that era ‘special magic’, which essentially embodies the unique chemistry of Ron Chenier’s hoary biker voice singing melodically, over late ‘70s-styled hard rock, with retro-‘80s keyboards / analog synths and a bit of Jon Lord. Got that?

Chenier had a weird talent for making heavy rock like this sound radio-friendly. Despite the heavy sound and despite his raspy vocals the songs are actually deceivingly commercial in nature.
Now, what gives these songs their magic? First of all, the sound is enhanced by that awesome keyboards. They never dominate, but they certainly add to the wide appeal of the music. Then there’s the fact that all songs have well written vocal melodies and choruses that are often catchy as hell.

Oddly enough, I feel the fact that they didn’t use a melodic hard rock singer (because with songs like this that could just as easily have been the case) is the finishing touch to make these songs stand out. Of course this feat could only be accomplished because the production is solid (with its smart use of higher pitched backing vocals whenever needed, among others).

“Fleet Street” a.k.a ”Thunder In Rock”received great reviews and interesting sales. Backed by the album’s success, the group took the show on the road again, playing outdoor festivals with the likes of Heart, MotorHead, Krokus, Scorpions and many more.
Canadians of course don’t need an introduction to one of the best Hard Rock bands to have come from their country, but I’m certain there are still European classic Hard Rock fans out there that have never heard of them.
If you are one of them, don’t hesitate to give “Fleet Street” a good listen, now finally available on CD.
Highly Recommended

You’ve seen it first at 0dayrox

1 – Double Or Nothin’
2 – Thunder In Rock
3 – Leather ‘N Lace
4 – On The Radio
5 – It’s Late
6 – Better Way To Go
7 – Evil Cold
8 – FleetStreet
9 – Open The Gates

Guitar, Vocals – Ron Chenier
Bass, Vocals – Jeff Nystrom
Keyboards, Synths – Ivan Tessier
Drums – Bob Patterson
Saxophone Solo on 2 – John Johnson

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