L.A. GUNS "The Devil You Know"



L.A. GUNS

“The Devil You Know”

Many of the oldschool sleaze/hair metal bands from the 80’s keep plugging just to make a buck. A lot of them wind up embarrassing their legacies. L.A. GUNS is one of the few capable of delivering the goods just like they did during their heyday...that is, if Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns are in the band.

“The Devil You Know” is a raw and raucous excursion into the hardest of rock that makes me feel like lighting up a cigarette and downing a Mad Dog even though I never indulge in those things. The GUNS keep to the heavy and mean side of things here, eschewing the pop overtones and maudlin ballads that ruined most hair metal for me. Opener “Rage” is really harsh and grinding for this kind of music, laying down a challenge and establishing credibility right away.

The albums mixes things up nicely. “Loaded Bomb” is a dizzy, delirious rocker crammed full of Tracii’s guitar histrionics and even some juicy slide guitar. The title track and “Going High” both have a heavy Black Sabbath influence, with the former song in particularly having an almost doomy crunch to it. Very heavy stuff! “Gone Honey” is kind of hard to describe, almost grungy in an early 90’s way, not a ballad but not a balls out rocker either...it kind of went on too long for me. “Don’t Need To Win” is 100% AC/DC influenced party metal with a familiar riff while “Down The Hole” is another really heavy one that’s thick and groovy. The album proper ends with the dark ballad “Another Season In Hell”, although you might wind up with a bonus track “Boom” that’s fast and rowdy.

“The Devil You Know” is the devil you need if you like your rock hard, heavy and sleazy. This is a fun album from L.A. GUNS and shows they’re more than just a nostalgia act.

FRONTIERS RECORDS

L.A. GUNS

Comments

Popular Posts