Lääz Rockit "No Stranger To Danger" CD

Hindsight may always be 20/20, but it's also an invaluable guide in explaining some of the many historical oddities that have proliferated in metal's near 50 year history. Though the jury may be out on just what segment of the past 5 decades enjoyed the highest concentration of quirky stylistic experiments, the mid-80s are an elite contender for this distinction, owing to it being the time when divergent scenes within the metal umbrella started to become polarized. Ironically the location where most of this sectarian friction was the greatest was on the California coast, as the happy-go-lucky L.A. sleaze scene was routinely butting heads with the harder edged, working class thrash metal explosion rampaging out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Naturally there were some notable exceptions to the rule on both sides, with the L.A. scene also producing some edgier outfits like Agent Steel and Armored Saint that didn't take the plunge into the androgynous abyss, while San Francisco's neighbor Oakland offered up a more speed/power infused old school act Lääz Rockit, at least when considering the traditionally rooted character of their 1984 debut City's Gonna Burn.
Given that the aforementioned rivalry was beginning to reach a boiling point by 1985 with the highly successful third offering of Motley Crue Theater Of Pain and Exodus' blistering debut Bonded By Blood, it would seem logical that any band from the Bay Area would likely follow the example of the latter album in question. Surprisingly enough, this is not the road that this pioneering outfit of power/thrash took when No Stranger To Danger was put together, as can be assumed by the album art featuring the band all decked out like they're opening for Ratt on the sunset strip. It would be a slight stretch to state that this album is a 100% glam offering, but it's pretty tough to deny the massive similarities that it shares with some of the major players in the L.A. scene, mainly Quiet Riot and Dokken. Due to a fairly sizable remnant of the previous album being present in the guitar work, most particularly the speed-based riffing and frenetic virtuoso guitar shredding, it's a tad bit more aggressive and dangerous sounding than many of the mainline acts associated with the glam style, and when taking into account Michael Coons' slightly grittier approach, listens a tad bit like W.A.S.P.'s debut with about triple the production value.
This shift in stylistic direction is perhaps to be expected given that from a macro-view, the overall direction of metal outside San Francisco was being pushed in a smoother and more commercial direction due to the popularity of the more keyboard-infused latter day Rainbow sound that was being popularized by a number of associated projects, not to mention a sizable chunk of the NWOBHM alumni. All the same, Lääz Rockit carries it well by keeping most of their focus on more guitar oriented melodic fair, coming out with some respectable hard rocking anthems like the opening riff monster "Dreams Die Hard", along with some Dokken inspired fanfare like "Stand Alone" and "I've Got Time" that occasionally hints at the brilliance of Randy Rhoads' tenure with Ozzy Osbourne. There are a handful of filler tracks that get a little too corny for their own good, like the slow developing and cliche power ballad "Spared By Fire" and the fairly static mid-paced rocker "Tonight Alive", but there is also a sizable dose of melodic speed thrashing intrigue. Though maybe a tad out of place among the rest of these songs, the speed metal infused mayhem of "Backbreaker" and the gallop-happy cruiser "Off The Deep End" make a hell of a racket, to speak nothing for the blistering speed thrasher "Wrecking Machine", probably the closest this band could get to hinting at their later direction.
It's not all too surprising that this is the least liked offering out of Lääz Rockit's original run, as it essentially tries to straddle the line between their developing thrash sound and the mainline 80s arena rock sound that was on the upsurge at the time, coming out more in the latter camp and inviting accusations of brazen trend-hopping. While compared to what came before and what would ultimately come after this is definitely a qualitative step downward, it's a pretty solid if somewhat muddled offering for any old school 80s fans who enjoyed the melodic splendor of Dokken's Tooth And Nail and Quiet Riot's Metal Health. The production is extremely slick and polished, but the guitar tone has a tad bit more bite to it than a typical glam outing, and the wild soloing definitely carries enough chops to give George Lynch a run for his money. They would definitely function better when fully embracing their latent thrash metal tendencies and joining the ranks of Flotsam And Jetsam, Heathen and Metal Church in offering a somewhat more melodic yet equally aggressive answer to the riff-centered Bay Area sound and the darker extreme one that Sepultura and Possessed were ushering in, but objectively speaking, this is more of a competent stylistic interlude than an outright flop.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...