Product of Imagination

Product of Imagination
Studio album by Paradox
Released	October 1987
Recorded	May–June 1987 at Karo Studio, Münster, Germany [1]
Genre	Thrash metal, speed metal
Length	39:39
Label	Roadrunner Records
Producer	Kalle Trapp
Paradox chronology

Last updated October 02, 2019

Product of Imagination is the debut album of the German metal band Paradox. It was released in 1987 through Roadrunner Records.

Paradox is a German power/thrash metal band formed in 1986.

Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal and hard rock bands. It is a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City.

Product of Imagination was reissued by the German label High Vaultage Records in 1999, containing four bonus tracks.^[2] The album was reissued again on August 13, 2007 by Metal Mind Productions from Poland as a digipack. This reissue was released as a golden disc with only 2000 items ever produced. It featured bonus tracks along with every song on the album being digitally remastered using a 24-Bit process.^[1]

Metal Mind Productions (MMP) is a Polish record label founded in 1987. The label focuses on rock and heavy metal. MMP is also publisher of Metal Hammer, the largest and the oldest heavy metal magazine. As a concert agency, it organises Metalmania, the largest heavy metal event in Central–Eastern Europe, and it organised over 1000 concerts including Monsters of Rock in Poland, 1991.

Background

Paradox was formed in 1986 by vocalist and guitarist Charly Steinhauer and drummer Axel Blaha. The band added guitarist Markus Spyth and bassist Roland Stahl to their lineup in February of that same year.^[3] Now having a complete lineup, Paradox recorded a demo in the same year that began to attract the attention of Roadrunner Records, but it would be the Mystery demo released in 1987 that would be the first major breakthrough for the band. The demo was voted "The Demo of the Year" in a number of magazines and, according to Steinhauer, "That demo was the reason Roadrunner Records asked us for a possible collaboration."^[4] After obtaining their deal with Roadrunner, Paradox began to record Product of Imagination at Karo Studio in May 1987 with producer Kalle Trapp.^{[ citation needed ]}

Touring

Paradox supported the release of their debut by performing in numerous live shows across Europe. They played shows with a variety of notable artists, including Helloween, Overkill, and Tankard.^[3] The band also made an appearance at the Dynamo Open Air festival in 1988. Steinhauer considered the band's performance here to be a highlight of his career, "For young musicians like us, it was like we were suddenly big rock stars. We shared the stage with our favorite band, Exodus, in front of 22,000 metal bangers... This show is actually in my personal hall of fame. Sometimes we had tears in our eyes when we thought how lucky we were, and if it was really true what had happened for us. I remember, before we started playing, I shouted to Axel, 'hey...we made it! Now we are a big name. Look at all these people who came to see us playing live'".^[4]

Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg, West Germany by members of bands Iron Fist and Gentry. Its first lineup consisted of singer and rhythm guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, lead guitarist Michael Weikath, and drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. After the release of a self-titled EP and their debut album Walls of Jericho in 1985, it expanded into a quintet with the addition of singer Michael Kiske, Hansen choosing to focus on guitar instead. Under this line-up, they released the Keeper of the Seven Keys albums, which established Helloween as a notable heavy metal band and led to the creation of the power metal subgenre. Hansen left the band soon after the release of Part II and was replaced by Roland Grapow. After leaving Helloween, Hansen formed Gamma Ray.

Overkill is an American thrash metal band, formed in 1980 in New Jersey. They have gone through many line-up changes, leaving bassist D. D. Verni and lead vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth as the only constant members. In addition to Verni and Ellsworth, Overkill's current lineup includes Dave Linsk on lead guitar, Derek Tailer on rhythm guitar and Jason Bittner on drums. Along with Nuclear Assault and Anthrax, whose one-time lead guitarist Dan Spitz was also an early member of Overkill, the band is one of the most successful East Coast thrash metal bands, and they are often called "the Motörhead of thrash metal". The band has a notable mascot named "Chaly", a skeletal bat with a skull-like face, horns, bony wings and green eyes, who has appeared on most of their album covers.

Tankard is a thrash metal band from Frankfurt am Main, Germany, founded in 1982. Along with Kreator, Destruction and Sodom, Tankard is often considered one of the "Big Teutonic Four" of Teutonic thrash metal. They released their first record in 1986 and continue to write and record in the same vein: fast metal songs in honour of alcohol.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[5]
Sea of Tranquility	^[6]
Rock Hard	(9/10) ^[7]

Product of Imagination was generally well received and praised by the media following its release in October 1987. It was voted "LP of the month" in the magazines Rock Hard and Metal Hammer , the latter of which claimed that the album was the best German debut since Helloween's Walls of Jericho . The album was also given high scores in the English magazine Kerrang! and also in Japan's Burrn! .^[3] After the release of their debut, Paradox was named "Newcomer #1" by the press in Germany.^[4] The band was also ranked as the third best band in Germany in polls conducted by the German editions of Rock Hard and Metal Hammer, being ranked below the Scorpions and Accept.^[5]

Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal and rock music magazine, published in the United Kingdom by Future and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music.

<i>Walls of Jericho</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Helloween

Walls of Jericho is the debut full-length studio album by German power metal band Helloween, released in 1985 on LP by Noise Records. It is the only album featuring Kai Hansen as lead vocalist, although he would continue to act as guitarist on subsequent albums.

Kerrang! is a British weekly magazine devoted to hard rock and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent. It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to the new wave of British heavy metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music weekly.

Pete Pardo of Sea of Tranquility described the album as featuring "thrashy guitar riffs, blinding solos, a mix of gruff & melodic high pitched vocals, and pounding rhythms". Pardo praised guitarist Markus Spyth's work on the songs "Continuation of Invasion", "Mystery", "Paradox", and "Product of Imagination".^[6] Allmusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia awarded the album three stars out of five, also praising the guitar work throughout the album and suggesting that the band as a whole was "an incredibly cohesive and taut unit". However, Rivadavia did suggest that the album "suffers from wild inconsistencies of tone, dynamics, and quality", leading him to believe that "maybe Paradox weren't quite ready to record, but rather were hurriedly cobbling songs together throughout the album's sessions".^[5]

Track listing

Original track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Opening Theme" (instrumental)	1:24
2.	"Paradox"	4:16
3.	"Death, Screaming and Pain"	5:09
4.	"Product of Imagination"	7:15
5.	"Continuation of Invasion" (instrumental)	2:13
6.	"Mystery"	5:05
7.	"Kill That Beast"	4:27
8.	"Pray to the Godz of Wrath"	4:44
9.	"Beyond Space"	4:48
10.	"Wotan II"	0:18

1999 reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Paradox" (Live)	4:17
12.	"Death Screaming And Pain" (Live)	4:58
13.	"Execution" (Live)	3:17
14.	"Pray To The Gods Of Wrath" (Demo)	5:44

2007 reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Paradox" (Live)	4:17
12.	"Death Screaming And Pain" (Live)	4:58
13.	"Execution" (Live)	3:17
14.	"Pray To The Gods Of Wrath" (Demo)	5:44
15.	"Paradox" (live video)

Personnel

Charly Steinhauer - vocals, guitar
Markus Spyth - guitar
Roland Stahl - bass guitar
Axel Blaha - drums

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References

1 2 "Paradox - Product of Imagination - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". The Metal Archives. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
↑ "Paradox (GER) Product of Imagination (CD Album) - Spirit of Metal Webzine (en)". Spirit of Metal. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
1 2 3 "Paradox - Biography - Metal Storm". Metal Storm. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
1 2 3 "The Metal Crypt - Paradox Interview". Metal Crypt. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
1 2 3 Product of Imagination at AllMusic
1 2 Pardo, Pete (12 September 2007). "Review: "Paradox: Product of Imagination (remaster)" - Sea of Tranquility". Sea of Tranquility. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
↑ Stratmann, Holger. "Rock Hard". Issue 22. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

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[metal-archives-1] 1 2 "Paradox - Product of Imagination - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". The Metal Archives. Retrieved 14 May 2015.

[2] "Paradox (GER) Product of Imagination (CD Album) - Spirit of Metal Webzine (en)". Spirit of Metal. Retrieved 14 May 2015.

[metal_storm_biography-3] 1 2 3 "Paradox - Biography - Metal Storm". Metal Storm. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

[metal_crypt_interview-4] 1 2 3 "The Metal Crypt - Paradox Interview". Metal Crypt. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

[allmusic_review-5] 1 2 3 Product of Imagination at AllMusic

[sea_of_tranquility_review-6] 1 2 Pardo, Pete (12 September 2007). "Review: "Paradox: Product of Imagination (remaster)" - Sea of Tranquility". Sea of Tranquility. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

[7] Stratmann, Holger. "Rock Hard". Issue 22. Retrieved 15 May 2015.