1552 - Vanadium Don't Be Lookin' Back 1983

Vanadium's second album, 1983's A Race with the Devil, didn't introduce any radical new developments into the Italian group's guitar-and-keyboard-driven heavy metal formula, but it nevertheless showed a qualitative improvement over its rookie predecessor in every possible department: songwriting, production, performance. In fact, it is arguably the strongest effort of Vanadium's entire career, and also marked the reinstatement of band founder, guitarist Steve Tessarin, who'd been excluded from the first album's sessions by a mandatory call to military service, and therefore returned seemingly twice as motivated to leave his mark this second time around. Pino Scotto’s voice is a trademark, particularly on the group's first truly competent power ballad, "Don't Be Looking Back".