How the mighty fall. It never ceases to amaze me how musical genres come and go; like a vast empire, they undergo a major collapse just after the height of power. Such is the story with the late great hairbands of the late 80s and early 90s. It is a guilty pleasure of mine to investigate some of the releases these former multi-platinum sellers made after the 15th minute expired.
Which brings us to Slaughter's 1995 release (their third proper release), "Fear No Evil." The CD was put out on CMC International, which for a time, was where hairbands went after their majors dropped them for some dirty mopey band from a dreary wet city. You have to admire the Slaughter boys for sticking to their guns here and delivering a record that did not cater to the grunge fad, but gave fans exactly what they wanted: a gang chorus, saying "ass" a couple times, lyrics a four year could understand, cowbell, more cowbell, and silly little instrumental fillers. What is the deal with those anyway? There are TWO of these wastes of time on this record, making it effectively only a 10 track CD, not 12.
So this record is true to their hairband "roots" if you will and it sounds like 1988 all over again. Actually, the record is a little harder and less pop oriented than their first two CDs. "Searchin'" jams with a catchy hook, and the sappy ballad "It'll Be Alright" is a Beatlesque gem. "Outta My Head" is classic Slaughter, and the ironically titled "Yesterday's Gone" is another cut worth checking out.
iPOD-worthy: 3, 4, 9, 11
Slaughter - official site.
Check out the video for "Searchin'":
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