Slaughter! These guys must be Extreme ...... oh ...

With a cool name like Slaughter, one might think of some Grindcore Death metal band, but alas no. This Slaughter is a Hair Band from Las Vegas. But these guys were good (at least their first 2 albums. Well the second one was more commercial but still rocked, but the last 3 albums ... blegh !) The album "Stick it to ya" rocked. As I was saying in my last post, I first discovered Slaughter cause they were touring with Kiss on the "Hot in the Shade" tour. While watching Power Hour on Much Music I remember seeing the video for "Up all Night" and some interviews with Mark Slaughter (hence the name Slaughter)and the band and how they were going on tour with Kiss. I loved the song and it was a pretty hot video. For a teenage boy who was getting bored with the Sears Catalogue, this cover was great! Their live album even features a midget! But seriously this was a great album and I eventually repurchased it on CD a couple of years ago. This, I believe to be a step up for Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum who prior to forming Slaughter were members of Vinnie Vincents Invasion.
(Vinnie Vincent is a former guitarist for Kiss) Slaughter is sometimes labelled as Glam rock, but these guys are more hair band. The 2 boys from Vinnie's left the Glam behind. Mark and Dana were joined by Tim Kelly and Blas Elias and were a pretty solid band. Tim Kelly was killed in car accident in 1998. And no I'm not trying to start a trend here with young dead musicians.

This album has some great tunes. "Up all night" is your punch in the gut Rock Anthem. You have the quirky "She wants More" and sex themed "Loaded Gun" both fun songs. "Eye to Eye" and "Burnin' Bridges" are stylish and catchy. Marks wailing screech is both typical yet uniquely Slaughter. I can pick him out anywhere (like as a guest vocalist on Chrissy Steeles album: reviewed at a later date). His vocals really shine as well as the guitar work on "Fly to the Angels" which is my favourite song. What I like here is the lack of hair band cheesiness. This album is great, unfortunately I think it was their peak. "The Wild Life" album is good, but too commercial. After that one I just gave up on Slaughter. I tried listening and even owned at one point "Revolution" and "Fear No Evil" but I ended up disappointed and sold them at a loss. I'll be reviewing "The Wild Life" at a later point. I still feel quite strongly about this album, and it was the first band I discovered on my own.

Still it's no Slaughter