God knows they were never given any credit, but if potential was to be measured by pure instinctive ability -- not sales results -- then one could make a pretty good case for Tyneside, England's Fist as one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal's most under-appreciated and innately talented acts. Yes, it's a stretch but consider this: although they were rushed into the studio by MCA to cobble together their first album -- 1980's Turn the Hell On -- on extremely short notice, Fist came away with what, in retrospect at least, has to qualify as one of the N.W.O.B.H.M.'s better hard rock debuts. For Fist, you see, were rather erroneously associated with that particular movement, and blues-based, melodically-inclined album highlights like "Hole in the Wall Gang," "The Watcher" and "One Percenter" clearly peg them as disciples of UFO and Thin Lizzy, far more than Black Sabbath or Judas Priest. In addition, as well as revealing the quartet's very tight and familiar musical interplay, singles like "Forever Amber," "Name, Rank and Serial Number," and the very amusing "You'll Never Get Me Up (In One of Those)" displayed the sort of songwriting confidence and maturity -- particularly in terms of their lyrics -- that most contemporaries sorely lacked. And even though the same compliments can't be bestowed upon every track here (witness the rather silly "Axeman"), Fist show great versatility on two surprisingly convincing ballads: the well-crafted "Collision Course," and the bluesy "Terminus." Sadly, none of the above would be enough to break Fist to as large an audience as required by MCA, which perhaps prematurely, dropped the band only a few months later. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia