Heading for a Storm

Heading for a Storm is the second album, balancing weight and melody around Adrian Vandenberg’s fluid guitar. Released on Atco in 1983 and, like the debut, recorded at Jimmy Page’s Sol Studios with mastering by Bob Ludwig, its cover — giant sharks flying over a desolate desert highway — is a painting by Adrian himself, also a visual artist. Bert Heerink’s singing breathes lyricism between the hard riffs, with Dick Kemper and Jos Zoomer anchoring the base. “Different Worlds” reached No. 17 on the Dutch singles chart, the racing “Friday Night” hit No. 29 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, and the album charted at No. 71 on Japan’s Oricon LP chart. From “This Is War” to the closing “Waiting for the Night,” dramatic developments mesh with accessible hooks, and racers sit in balance with mid-tempo songs. Rather than David Coverdale-style grandeur, there is the band’s own lyricism here — a record whose European hard-rock class and heat come through in consistently strong songs.