What's Slang For Generic Hard Rock?

I said in my previous post to think Aerosmith, but I was grossly mistaken. The band Slang play 90's flavoured hard rock along the lines of Bon Jovi and The Pursuit Of Happiness. I know I was way off, but it has been a while since I've listened to these albums. Enough about that. Slang is the band my step-uncle sings in, based out of St. Catherines, Ontario. They (or atleast I own) have 2 albums. "Resilience" and "Sonic Graffiti". I've seen them play only once at their CD release show for "Sonic Graffiti" and they were quite good. The albums on the other hand are a little bland/flat.

"Resilience" is their first outing and I found nothing really stood out. The style here is your basic hard rock with wailing solos, power riffs and the occasional ballad. We have the galloping rockers with the opener "Carousel" and "Skyrider" and "Undertow". A couple of ballads in "Last Train Home" and "Obsessed" as well as a slow rocker with "Your World". Unfortunately, Slang's album suffers the fate of many first records that are self produced and that is weak production quality. The musicianship is fine with some great guitar work, but the songs are unmemorable. My step-Uncles vocals sound flat and that's a shame. If I had to choose, I'd say the Neil Young (Rockin' In The Free World) influenced track "Carousel" is the highlight.

"Sonic Graffiti" is a step up in production and the songs stay with you longer and here we can pick out more of their influences. We have some heavier rockers with "Mad City", "In Your Face" and the album opener "United" which touches slightly on Warrant territory. The Pursuit of Happiness influence comes out on the poppier tracks "Must Have Been A Fool" and "Heartbreak Fascination" where the melody is stronger and hooky. "Gypsy Blues" and the album closer "Unsung Heroes" are ballady and we have the dirty rocker "It Ain't EZ, Being Sleazy". The musicianship here is fine and the move to a pop rocky sound was good. Mick's vocals sound better and the all around production improved. "Heartbreak Fascination" is the song I like (you can here some Lowest Of The Low in Mick's vocals). Sadly, I'm not really into these albums, but Slang does a nice show which is really important.

I'm not sure if they'll be any more albums for Slang in the future, I guess I'll wait till the next family gathering to find out. Well coming up I'll be looking at an alternative band with a member who's cousin worked with my Wife and then I'll drift back to the heavy stuff.