Toad

From deep within the heart of the Swiss Alps comes Toad, a little-known conglomerate of European headbangers serving up a bone crushing platter of sledgehammer hard rock. The band’s self-titled debut, first released in 1971 on Hallelujah Records, is a pounding collection of acid-drenched guitar-rock. "They Say I'm Mad," a heavy blues-based rocker, and "Pig's Walk," a vicious, largely instrumental romp, best capture the fret board pyrotechnics of guitarist Vic Vergeat, whose pulverizing array of metal-based riffs help hide the at times awkward lead vocals of singer Beni Jaeger (a man whose first language is quite clearly not English). The album’s highlight comes in the form of "Life Goes On," a 12-minute psychedelic journey through the mine fields of progressive hard rock, a mini-epic of vintage ‘70s proportion. Jaeger left almost immediately after the album was recorded, but Toad was never really about the singing anyway. Vergeat bludgeoned his way through two additional albums, both of which, Tomorrow Blue and Dreams, were reissued on compact disc in 2007 by Italy’s now-defunct Akarma Records.

Notes: “Pig’s Walk” from Toad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg5-V53a0ME&feature=related.