Review: YoungBlood “No Retreat”

Glam rock

Holy hairbands! YoungBlood’s “No Retreat” is one of the most authentic throwbacks to the late 80s glam scene that I’ve heard in a long time. Checking closer into the bio, it now makes sense. These tunes were originally written in 1989 and have been re-mixed and re-mastered to finally rock our asses off in 2012. We have all the sleeze, falsettos, and fretboard gymnastics of that classic era. The members of the Indianapolis-based band also used to be Henry Lee Summer’s touring band, but “No Retreat” is much closer to Poison and Motley Crue in sound and style.

The bluesy hard rock swagger of “Don’t You Play With My Head” is what got the band off the ground, leading to their recording some 45 songs for a debut release on Sony/Epic that never happened. The aptly named “No Retreat” sees the boys finally getting these songs out to fans that should have heard them on the radio back in ’89. A few more highlights include “Pump It Up”, “Back In My Life”, “Sock It To Me”, “Find A Way”, and “Shot Of You”. There aren’t too many power ballads on this high octane release, but you can get your fix with “Coming Home” and “My One and Only”.

If you were ever a fan of Tora Tora, Kix, or Slaughter, get out your hairspray and makeup and check these guys out!

YoungBlood – More info.