When you ask about hard rock or heavy metal from Australia, AC/DC or Rose Tattoo inevitably come to mind, but no one will mention Buffalo. That's a shame, because the quartet, founded in Sydney in 1971, is now considered one of the cult bands of early heavy metal. The title of their second album, Volcanic Rock, released in August 1973 on Vertigo, sums it up perfectly: explosive, stormy hard rock. Led by the distinctive and raw vocals of metal singer Dave Tice, the furious riffs of guitarist John Baxter thunder over a massive soundscape created by bassist Peter Wells (later founder/slide guitarist of Rose Tattoo) and Jimmy Economou's excellent drumming. The cover also visualises this musical power very impressively, but this had negative consequences due to the controversial motif – the depiction of a naked female torso with menstruating molten lava, on which a Promethean figure lifts a phallic-shaped rock.
As a result, the album was banned from record stores. As it was not played on the radio either, sales 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.
