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Hair-metalers try to stay current

Blondie

Brides of Destruction ­ Here Comes the Brides
(Sanctuary Records)
2 (out of 5 stars)

Reviewed: April 12, 2004


Review by Tony Bonyata

Back in the late '80s hair metal was at its peak with excessive shredding guitars, sappy power ballads, cheeseburger choruses and poorly applied makeup. Then bands such as The Pixies, Nirvana and the rest of Seattle introduced grunge to the world and instantly turned hair metal bands such as Poison, Ratt and Motley Crue into laughing stocks.
Now, almost fifteen years later, some of hair metalıs biggest names have joined forces to form a supergroup of sorts under the name Brides of Destruction. The group was originally formed in 2002 by guitarist Tracii Guns (LA Guns) and Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) and is now completed with session drummer Scot Coogan and unknown Los Angeles howler London LeGrand.
On The Bridesı debut album Here Comes The Brides the quartet shows that theyıve paid attention to current music events as they incorporate sweaty garage rock into their own sleazy Sunset Strip sounds. And while it still doesnıt hold a candle to whatıs reverbing out of Detroit and Sweden these days, itıs still a step in the right direction. Leaving their mascara and spandex trousers behind, the band rips through a handful of songs that, for the most part, rock hard without coming off as a bad joke.
The Brides kick things off with a bang on the opening scorcher "Shut the [Expletive] Up," before tearing into the MC5 inspired mayhem of "I Donıt Care." The band also adds a menacing troglodyte stomp on "2X Dead," while "Natural Killers" finds them delivering a strong, no-nonsense rocker.
Unfortunately, however, the last track on the album "Only Get So Far" underscores absolutely everything laid down before it, as the quartet plods through this painfully embarrassing power ballad. Although the Brides of Destruction have tried to stay with the times by adding more grit into their music, its melodic mush like this that proves their hearts are still stuck in the excesses of '80s.

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