Released by: Frontiers Records
Release Date: May 17th, 2011
Genre: Hard Rock/Sleaze
Links: www.myspace.com/blacknblueofficial.
Line Up:
Jaime St. James (vocals)
Jef “Woop” Warner (guitar)
Patrick Young (bass)
Pete Holmes (drums)
Shawn Sonnenschein (guitars)
Tracklist:
01. Monkey
02. Target
03. Hail Hail
04. Fool’s Bleed
05. C’mon
06. Jaime’s Got The Beer
07. Angry Drunk Son Of A Bitch
08. So Long
09. Trippin’
10. Falling Down
11. Candy
12. Hell Yeah!
13. World Goes Round
Talk about recurrent bands and rarities in the Glam Metal world. I don’t specifically recall the debut record from the then Glam Metal band Black ‘N Blue, but around 1984 the band released their self title debut to some critical success. They consisted at the time of Jaime St. James (vocals), Thommy Thayer (lead guitar, and currently of KISS as the replacement for Ace Frehley), Jef “Woop” Warner (guitar), Patrick Young (bass), and Pete Holmes (drums). A couple of other notables are lead singer Jaime St James stint with Warrant as lead singer when he joined the band in 2004 and had been spending most of the last few years touring with the group.
This record was in the works for a while and finally came to fruition, the outfit now tries to regain some of that Glam attitude that made them semi successful in the 80’s. Is amazing how many bands never did make it huge and the sad thing is that most of these bands while similar in style, we’re all excellent musicians in their own right. Black ‘N Blue’s hard rock style is being instantaneously implemented in this upcoming release of “Hell Yeah!” welcoming another one of these resurgence comebacks albums by a relic of the 80’s.
Look no further then the pure glam slab of “Target” to remind yourself of some old school Ratt material, for any sleazers out there this will bring a joy to your heart and ears.The power ballad “Fools Bleed” graciously limbers on with a nice chunky bass and rhythm section in prime sight. The piercing battering riff of the party anthem ‘C’mon” brings flashes of a young Thin Lizzy rocking out in it’s prime.
But of course the album does not always hit on all cylinders, the kind dragging vibe of “Hail Hail” runs along a bit too long and makes the song drown in it’s own chant rhythm. The voice of singer Jaime St James is fair but nothing spectacular and the writing won’t blow anybody out of the water. The track “Candy” feels like an recycle glam tune from the past, a blast from the past only thing is that it doesn’t work too well here in the present even with a killer guitar solo I still felt misled by it’s cheap tricks.
I’m not quite sure about the rumors I heard that this album has been in the shelf for quite some times, perhaps we can dig a little more into that. But regardless of that rumor I think the band somewhat puts an okay display for a modern sleaze hard rock band. The truth is that many bands now from Europe are playing at a higher level and are borrowing influences from the 80’s metal scene here and are materializing that same sound that became so unforgettable during that time frame. So while I’m glad these Oregon legends are back with a new record, I probably wait and see to see what else they can offer to the world later down the line as you will find a mix of tunes on this release.
Written by Denys
Ratings Denys 6/10
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