Fates Warning – Night On Bröcken

I purchased this album brand new when it came out. From my understanding this is the banned album cover..because it is so violent...they reverted to a more mundane cover afterword. Fact is...these metal bands from the early 80s metal movement were mostly underground bands with little money. Unlike today..where many can make $$ online etc...in the 80s it was about performing and hoping the record sold. Sadly many of the now classic metal from the 80s did not have $$ or even a budget for an album cover. So the art -though really cool at the time....may look less than professional by todays standards. I can assure you..that...when I was a metal kid in the 80s ...the cover was great. AND the music was better...win win. One must also understand that most of us purchasing these obscure metal bands had no idea what they sounded like when we purchased the album. No radio..no you tube..no internet ...just rumors and guessing and help from friends who knew friends. Album highlights.. SEK/Damnation/Soldier Boy

I don't know who came up with the "art design" for this album. I have seen three completely different versions, all of which don't do any justice to the quality of the music! There is one sleeve which is bland, but harmless [ showing a distant view at a planet (Earth? Moon? Zeist?) from space... any connection to the title at all?]. Okay, considering the common lapse of taste in the 80's metal community, this one is almost agreeable. But the other two: did somebody working for Metal Blade or Roadrunner secretely slip these into his pocket while picking up his kid from kindergarten? I can't even tell which one is worse, the clumsy "painting" of a trial by fire of a barbie-witch crossbreed, or the random assembly of felt pen botching? Even if one takes into consideration that time pressure and a lack of money might have played a role, this remains rubbish!
Please, whoever is about to re-release this classic in the future: you can do better than this!

Definitely not their best album but it's not their worst album either and I find myself returning to it from time to time three out of five stars

My copy of Fates Warning - Night On Bröcken has a typo on the spine: Night on Broken.

Basically, this is the demo recording, upgraded to first album status.

Note moved from Notes on release to reviews, it's not my information.