Lizzy Borden-Deal with the devil, 2000

Much like early Alice Cooper, Lizzy Borden is a singer, but also the name of the band. Lizzy Borden did two ep's, three lp's and a double live album between 1984 and 1987. There was also another studio album called "Master of disguise" released in 1989, but Lizzy (the person) says this was a solo album rather than a band effort like all of the previous albums. In the mid-1990's Lizzy (the guy) had a band called Diamond Dogs that were reportedly more 70's glam influenced, but they never got beyond he demo stage. However by the late 1990's Lizzy Borden was a band again and back in the studio. Lizzy Borden was at the mic, Joey Scott was still at the drums and then there were four guitarists and three bass players playing on this album. "There Will Be Blood Tonight" roars on and it sounds like a cross between something from their 1985 album "Love you to pieces" and their 1986 album "Menace to society". "Hell Is For Heroes" could be described in a similar way only it's a little more accomplished with a very tight feel. "Deal With The Devil" is a bit more mid-tempo and basic yet they keep it keeps moving and it kept my attention for it's entire running time. "Zanzibar" begins with some light middle-eastern music and although good overall it feels like an idea that wasn't quite worked out all the way like they could have used more time to get it ready. "Lovin' You Is Murder" has some of the old Lizzy Borden sound, but some nice melodies and a great flow to it. "We Only Come Out At Night" dabbles with a light industrial sound and overall it's decent enough, but not overwhelming. "Generation Landslide" is a great song...when done by Alice Cooper yet it's a toughy to cover because it's very touch and feel. Although they got all the notes right here, they just couldn't capture the feel of it. It's just alright I would say. "The World Is Mine" again has a little of the early band's sound but it's more melodic in a good way and it's a good change of pace at this point. "State Of Pain" along with "Lovin you is murder" might be the most accomplished tracks on the album. Solid song writing and they play it with confidence. Next we get another cover song and it's Blue Oyster Cult's (this Ain't) The Summer Of Love. They fare better with this one as it's pretty good although I don't see the need for two cover songs. "Believe" is slow and it starts out sort of promising, but doesn't quite do enough to be that interesting. It may have been more effective had it not been the closer. So overall it's a pretty good album which makes it one of the few reunion albums that really is good. I think if I ranked the band's albums this one would beat out both ep's, the live album, Master of disguies and Visual Lies. Which would rank it as third best of the band's career so far (new album coming soon). I almost feel like this is the album that they should have done instead of Visual lies. Visual Lies attempted to be more melodic, but came across as lame mainstream hard rock. "Deal with the devil" does a decent job of blending metal, hard rock and it's memorable for the most part.

***I will have a non-theme related post Wednesday and then we will be right back to "Reunion album week" on Thursday with a review of Judas Priest's Angel of retribution.