M-16-Locked and Re-Loaded

Heaven and Hell Records
2013 

Year's back I remember downloading M-16's sole release, 1988's "Locked and Loaded", based solely on the gnarly looking cover (see second pic below with the skeleton!). At the time it had popped up on a bootleg compilation I believe and it was marked as being traditional heavy metal. At the time I was severely disappointed as it was more hard rock then anything and the production, done at MCE Studios in Schenectady, N.Y., was flat and life-less. What a difference this re-release makes! The remastering was done by Jamie King at The Basement Recording in NC and wow, does this thing ever pop now! Heaven and Hell Records has taken this New York band's lone-release and, after taking on two bonus cuts, turned what was once M-16's "Locked and Loaded" into "Locked And Reloaded"! It's new cover makes a lot more sense as this was clearly melodic metal in vogue with what was going on back in the late eighties. Musically it comes across to me as Stryper meets Dokken although there are clearly elements of Winger, Black and Blue, Leatherwolf, Bon Jovi, Kiss, Helix and Icon. M-16 was also similar in many way's to Stutz as they aimed for unoffensive party metal or, perhaps a better description might be, club metal. While this kind of music was hit or miss with me back then (and even when I first heard "Locked and Loaded" I was left unimpressed) I opted to pick up a limited copy of this re-release anyway. The samples I heard made me re-think this album when it was put up as a pre-order. The punch that it lacked the first time came ringing through the speakers and it was obvious that the band's sound had been given the proper treatment this time around. Even so these songs are much better playing in my car stereo and the songs are fun and rather catchy! As it was limited to 500 copies your best bet now would be to try secondary markets like Ebay, but for melodic metal/hair metal fans this is a cool pick-up from a cult New York band. The CD comes with a nice booklet with pictures and a history of the band and, thanks to some loving hands behind this re-release, the overall sound is vastly improved 100 times over! 

http://www.m16rocks.com/

Original album cover