Vinnie Vincent Invasion - S/T

Bought this cassette in March 1986, after reading a rave review in... Hit Parader or RIP, I can't remember... anyhoo, for those that don't know, Vinnie Vincent was kicked out of, or quit, Kiss and went on to form this band (which would feature Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum on the next album, who would both go on to form glam metal legend Slaughter).

Now, for those of you offended by the inclusion of a rather perfectly-archetypal glam metal band--

I hate glam metal. Making fun of glam metal (and those who liked it) was my major in high school.

That said, this record (and Cats in Boots' Kicked and Klawed, but I'll get to that later) is that rarest of beasts: a glam metal album that fucking ROCKS.

That's usually the complaint against hair/glam metal, right? It's too compromised by its obsession with appearance to actually full-out rock.

Vinnie Vincent Invasion's debut is a full-out, rocking badass rock 'n' roll record: there's riffs a plenty, there's needlessly-histrionic vocals, there's cock-of-the-walk suggesting drums, and most of all, there's ridiculously-shredding lead guitar.

Now, for those of you that know me, you know I usually write about "extreme" doom/sludge metal, grindcore and/or deathgrind, and sometimes jazz. I wouldn't waste my time or yours by writing about something that wasn't worth blasting and blasting often.

And this is. This totally is.

Witness: the video for this album, and the first single "Boyz Are Gonna Rock," actually does rock (ill-advised "Z" for "S" excepted); "No Substitute" is as close as this record gets to a power ballad (and most importantly would not embarrass my inner 15-year-old); "Animal" and "Twisted" rock as hard as, like, anything EVAR, and "Do You Wanna Make Love" is a truly great metal/rock tune and one worth hearing even if you hate the rest of the record....

--Horn