The Merits of Kissin' Dynamite

Those of you that have been paying attention will know that I have relatively broad tastes in heavy music. I'm not one of those who believes that a single sub-genre from a particular 3 year period is the sole defining element to good metal. I remember a time when there was no metal, period, and I've enjoyed watching the evolutionary development and ever-broadening of the metal umbrella. Even with that in mind, though, there are some areas of more commercially "polished" metal that lead to a little guilty pleasure for me. I was going to G.I.T. in Hollywood right in the middle of the hair metal boom and MTV's rotation of bands like Ratt, Van Halen and Poison. I recognize that era eventually reached levels of excess that burned it down and opened the door for grunge. No arguments there.

With that background, you can understand the twinge I got when I saw a promo picture for Kissin' Dynamite. Like some strange convergence of the classic Judas Priest leather and mainstream hair metal excess with an unexpected infusion from Flock of Seagulls, clearly these guys were not in any of the goth, symphonic, thrash, death or black metal camps. Fortunately, my first exposure didn't involve any promo shots, just MP3 audio plus the album front cover and all it took was a minute or so of "Money, Sex & Power" to get my attention.

Yes, there's a dose of good ol' 80s hair/glam metal. But somehow Kissin' Dynamite has straddled the line between the Scorpions/Judas Priest branch of straight ahead, upbeat, melodic metal and riff-based, tongue-in-cheek glam metal seasoning. Powered by a wall of Germanic guitars, and straight-ahead bass and drums, Kissin' Dynamite immediately made me feel at home. Hannes' vocals often make me think back to Axl's work in the class Guns N' Roses material, but that's more about the timbre and edginess; his melodic lines fit more closely in The Scorpions and Accept camp.

I recommend listening to their latest release, "Money, Sex & Power" from top to bottom. If you need an entry point, "Club 27" is a great song to whet your appetite. If you are a big fan of a little fun in your metal, how can you not like a band that writes songs like "Dinosaurs Are Still Alive"? And just when you think you've got the band figured out, they hit you with the closing song on the album, "Six Feet Under", revealing both a lyrical cleverness and musical breadth that's surprising. I'm sitting here right now listening to the album, and I just can't keep that stupid smile off of my face. Good stuff!