Despite the modest success of their previous album Dead Forever, the Australian band Buffalo were on the verge of calling it a day. Then came Black Sabbath’s nationwide tour of Australia in January 1973, for which both bands’ label, Vertigo, was looking for an attractive support act and chose Buffalo. They subsequently recorded their second album Volcanic Rock at United Sound Studios in Sydney that summer. The title sums it up perfectly: five tracks of explosive, stormy hard rock. Led by the distinctive and raw vocals of metal singer Dave Tice, guitarist John Baxter’s furious riffs thunder over a massive soundscape created by bassist Peter Wells (founding member, slide guitarist and bassist with Rose Tattoo) and Jimmy Economou’s excellent drumming.
The cover of the LP, released in August 1973 on the Vertigo label with a design by Ian Brown, also visualises this musical power very impressively. However, the depiction of a naked female torso with menstruating molten lava, upon which a Promethean figure is lifting a phallus-shaped rock, was highly controversial and had negative consequences. The album was banned from record shops. As it was not played on the radio either, sales figures were zero. Nevertheless, Volcanic Rock has become a cult classic for many fans of early metal and is therefore extremely sought-after today as an Australian original including the rare poster.
