Laaz Rockit - Left for Dead
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I used to work out in the same gym as Michael Coons. He was in great shape, if unrecognizable from his time as Laaz Rockit‘s frontman in the ’80s. Gone were the towering hairdos and stage outfits that rivaled Stryper’s in absurdity. In their place was a respectable, healthy, middle-aged man who had quit drinking. Not long before, I had seen Laaz Rockit play. After breaking up in 1993, they reunited in 2005 to play the Dynamo Festival in Holland. Shortly afterwards, they played the Thrash Against Cancer benefit in San Francisco. Laaz Rockit surprised me with their verve. They were obviously fortysomethings with kids and mortgages, but they tore into their songs like overeager teenagers. Willy Lange even beat his bass so hard that he broke a string.
Reliving past glories and making new ones are different things, however. I didn’t know what to expect when Laaz Rockit announced in 2007 that they were working on new songs. Their last original material came out in 1991. Since then, bands young enough to be their children have revived their sound enthusiastically, if uncreatively. The title and tombstone on the cover of Left for Dead (Massacre, 2008) could refer to the band itself.
They’ve acquitted themselves mightily on this record. It doesn’t stand up to their great thrash records – Know Your Enemy, Annihilation Principle, Nothing’$ $acred – but it’s their heaviest record yet. Fast twitch muscles decrease with aging, so Laaz Rockit aren’t as speedy as their ’80s selves. But they’ve never been this precise and weighty. Except for new drummer Sky Harris, the original lineup is intact. Coons has learned to sing somewhat in tune, and confident, wah-fueled leads gurgle all over the place. Traces crop up of the groove metal that the band explored in the early ’90s as Gack. Thrash classic this is not, but a solid metal record this is. Who knows how many more Laaz Rockit have left in them, but it’s a high note on which to return/retire.
Buy:
The End
Laaz Rockit
Amazon (MP3)
