Hair Metal Hodge Podge with Every Mother's Nightmare and Diamond Rexx

Have not done one of these in a while so it was time to close my eyes reach into a bag filled with hair metal discs, pull two out, listen to them and either suffer or be surprised. Now if I said one of these discs was mainly influenced by Poison while the other disc was by a band with a singer who sounded kind of like Alice Cooper and they were heavy for a hair band then which band do you think you'd rather here? Well I am hoping that most of you will choose band B. So let's get into them and see.


Every Mother's Nightmare-s/t 1990
I remember seeing ads for this one when it came out, but I was full on thrash metal mode at the time so I didn't hear it then. Instead my introduction to this Nashville band was in the form of their 1993 release "Wake up screaming". Someone else played it for me and I found it to be mediocre and it suffered from poor production. It wasn't until just a few years ago then I spotted their debut in the bargain bin of a now defunct record store for $2. I picked it up not expecting much. The down side is these guys liked Poison a lot and their ballads are terrible as in skip over them kind of bad. However the up side is they are faster and heavier than Poison with a touch of blues rock thrown in and all of their non-ballads are at least decent. The music is generally tight although basic. They keep it going pretty well. The vocals are not as consistent, but certainly passable. This was a surprisingly decent album and I listen to it from time to time.



Diamond Rexx-Golden Gates 1991
This EP was the third outing from Chicago's very own Diamond Rexx. These guys had the glam look and a sound  that crossed metal and hard rock. The singer sounded somewhat like Alice Cooper and I said above they were on the heavier side of the hair metal spectrum. You can just sense the "however" coming. However as with their previous efforts this album was dull, almost painfully so. They can knock out a riff and the singer had some talent. Yet all their promise was flushed down the toilet due to lack of ideas. They begin a song, they run out of places to go about thirty-five seconds into it and then just play the same thing over and over. Even with only six tracks this album felt like it went on forever. It was maybe okay when I heard their debut because I remember thinking well, with experience they'll get better and grow as songwriters. Nope, they got worse with each album. What a shame.

There you go. What a surprising turn of events.