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!

Lillian Axe: A sound firmly established

Recently, Lillian Axe's February 2012 release, "The Days Before Tomorrow", arrived in KGLT's new loud rock bin. The front cover art immediately got my attention, although I reserved judgment until I previewed some songs. Often, the higher the ratio of skulls to surface area, the more likely the album is hardcore death metal, and therefore falls outside my melodic needs. As always, though, I gave the album a chance, and was immediately rewarded. I've been playing songs from the disc ("The Great Divide", "Lava On My Tongue", "Death Comes Tomorrow") ever since and it just keeps growing on me.

Through the Lillian Axe wikipedia entry and iTunes, I've gleaned quite a bit about the band. Unusual for a metal band in their New Orleans roots, I immediately got the sense there was something different about them. Sure, they gained early notoriety because the late Robbin Crosby (Ratt) produced their 1988 debut and some of their earlier material definitely has a hair metal bent. But this didn't read like the classic relocate-to-Hollywood-rags-to-riches story. And that's a good thing because their uniqueness is not just their history, it's their sound.

Having listened to "The Days Before Tomorrow" beginning to end a few times now, I knew the album is consistently strong, with soaring vocal melodies. But it's more timeless, not just the simple meat and potatoes hair or power metal melodies. I wondered whether that was a new development for the band or whether it's always been there. I went back and listened to earlier albums, trying to get a sense for how those albums relate to the latest album. Absolutely, their late 80s and early 90s material has a big dose of hair metal, but there's something more. Harmonically, these guys aren't afraid of motion, both in terms of the rhythm guitar and their layered vocals. There's an artistry to their songwriting that's less about riffs and more about form, structure and progression. There's no fear of major keys or repeat cycles longer than 4 bars. They give the feeling that their focus is on the songs and delivering a cohesive story.

At this point, it's hard to put my mindset back where it was in the late 80s or early 90s, but I still remember vividly enough. As I listen to "The Days Before Tomorrow", I hear a band that has honed its sound over decades and fed all of their experiences and energy into a truly great album. It is both soothing and stretching, it comforts and demands more of you. Perhaps Steve Blaze, the sole founding member, holds the key. Perhaps the band assembled for this album combined to generate the magic. And maybe the real truth can be found in Steve Blaze's own words, "This is the best record I have ever written for Lillian Axe". Whatever the secret, this album belongs in your collection and once you are familiar with it, feel free to work backwards in time to learn more.