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.

Mini-reviews

Here are some older CDs that I picked up recently.


Every Mother's Nightmare-s/t (1990)
I have had their second release for some time and just thought it was very average although it was hurt by poor production. I found there debut recently for $6.99 which I think is way less than what it normally goes for. They sound sort of like a heavier version of Poison in some ways and yes I realize that still doesn't mean they are very heavy at all. It's a little more rockin' than the bulk of the hard rock stuff that was spewing out all over the place in 1990. Yet I think the arrangements and okay vocals kept them from being that memorable.

Soul Kitchen-s/t (1992)
This one always shows up cheap on eBay and I normally skipped it because I knew nothing about. Finally I took a chance on copy that was under $2.00. The good news is it's a little like early Black Crowes, but the bad news is that it sounds even more like rotten popular hard rock of the time complete with mandatory sappy ballads. They have some groove here and there, but it's normally too subdued and too far below a few layers of lame, almost generic hard rock. Decent vocals and good production help it to be worth what I paid for it.

Metalium-Hero Nation and As One (Double disc set)
This two disc set cost $9.99 used which I thought was a decent deal. Hero Nation is the band's third disc and it's standard Euro power metal in the Helloween/Gamma Ray mold. The vocals seem to be the major focus and it just felt the music was pushed too far back. Also the music never really flowed as much as I was hoping, it came out and went yet it never truly that dynamic. A decent album, but all a little too tame. As One was the band's fourth disc and fares quite a bit better. The music soars and it's overall and more vibrant, it actually feels like there is some direction to what they are doing. The vocals are good although the lyrics are the same old cliches although the band doesn't try to pretend it's anything else. As a package it was worth what I paid.