Balance

Balance is a work on which VAN HALEN, while keeping their bright dynamism, stepped into a heavier, more introspective coloring. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar functions not only as flashy technique but as texture that changes the songs’ air. Made amid rising tension within the band, it is a record rich in shadow. Moving between the openness of “Can't Stop Lovin' You” and the hardness of “The Seventh Seal,” the album shows the range of the Sammy Hagar period. Songs like “Not Enough,” “Amsterdam” and “Aftershock” breathe the band’s full expressiveness too. With melody and playing tension coexisting, it reached No. 1 on the US chart. Also known as the last studio album on which Hagar took part, it is a record that conveys the band of that era well.