Laaz Rockit - No Stranger to Danger
70%
No Stranger to Danger. If anybody can come up with a cornier title, please be my guest. As I mentioned in the review of the first album of Laaz Rockit, the eighties were the golden era of thrash metal. The second album of this San Francisco outfit looks like it has more to do with Mötley Crüe than let’s say for instance Megadeth. And I remember seeing an old Metallica documentary where Dave Mustaine stated that GLAM stands for Gay L.A. Music. This particular Laaz Rockit album can pretty much be categorized as being glam influenced, and it could be called gay if you like.
It shows a young band that at this point was still undecided as to what direction to take their music. On their debut they kind of headed in a thrash metal direction. At the time of its original release in 1985 there was virtually no market for thrash metal at this point in time. However, the glam vibe was booming and major labels were lining up at every beauty salon signing everyone with the right hairdo. And it seams that Laaz Rockit were trying to hit both markets. After all the big four at this point were gaining huge momentum as well as the likes of aforementioned Mötley Crüe.
This album has a much better sound and is way more concise than its predecessor. Opener ‘Dreams Die Hard’, is virtually a rock song which isn’t bad, a decent opener for this particular album. But when I hear ‘Town to Town’ I immediately think of all the wrong hairdos and all of that eerie music that goes along with it…next!
Finally we get to a song that is worth the title of thrash. ‘Backbreaker’ is fast and actually reminds me of Toxic. It is an indication of what was about to come from this band in the near future. A total thrash metal album known as Know Your Enemy. This one here is the step towards the Laaz Rockit most people know. No Stranger to Danger isn’t bad, there is simply better stuff available from this particular era. I actually recommend their latest album Left for Dead.
