SKOL (BLUE VINLY/POSTER)

"Gold 'N' Glory" made way for "Skol" in 1985. Also a good record, but
maybe not on par with its direct predecessor. Heimi "Heinrich" Mikus
explains: "The original plan was for Michael Wagener to once again handle
the production of the record. But this proved to be difficult. He had moved to
the US and was doing one production after the other. The timing just didn't
work. So we recorded the album with Gert Rautenbach at Dierks Studios
near Cologne. But we had problems within the band. Our second guitarist
Bubi wanted to leave. He had received a tempting offer from another band.
He did finish recording "Skol" with us but somehow the chemistry inside the
band had gone for good. Thilo Herrmann later replaced Bubi." The title of
the record "Skol" neatly tied in with the band's Viking image. Nobody had
this kind of image at the time, it was after Heavy Load and way before
bands like Amon Amarth. Very unique... "Yes, we did stick with our Viking
image," confirms Heimi "Heinrich" Mikus. "We had so many ideas for our
stage show. If any other band had used this Viking image at the time, they
would have been mere copycats of Faithful Breath."