Ann 2
Alain
JennYMötley Crüe – Saints of Los Angeles Album Review
July 22nd 2008 01:00
Genre: Heavy metal, Hard rock, Glam metal
Length: 44:03
Label: Mötley, Eleven Seven Music
Writer: Ann 2
80s hard rock group Mötley Crüe are back with their ninth studio album called Saints of Los Angeles, their first since 2000's New Tattoo. This album mostly deals with the life of a rock 'n' roll band in L.A. in a lyrically simple and straightforward way. As such, this review will be quite short since only a couple of songs stand out from the rest.
The album starts off with L.A.M.F a dark intro with a guitar riff in the background while a demon-like voice welcomes you to Los Angeles. The lyrics on this intro are very good and nicely introduce the album. The problem is, it raises the bar very high in terms of lyrics, and the two songs that follow it were far from meeting that bar.
Indeed, Face Down in the Dirt is a pathetic attempt to reach out to today's youth. The cheesy chorus takes Mötley Crüe into Good Charlotte territory with lyrics like: “I wanna make a lot of money / But I don't wanna go to school / I don't wanna get a real job / I don't wanna be you.” It only gets worse with What's It Gonna Take as singer Vince Neil sings “We took it to the streets” when the labels blew them off.
Down at the Whisky is a song about going to bars. The singer seems to be stuck in nostalgia (“We never had a dime / But God we had a good time”) but the instrumental is very good.
Saints of Los Angeles finally gets the album where I expected it go. It's a good song with a nice guitar solo towards the end. Mutherf****r of the Year, Welcome to the Machine, and Just Another Psycho stay on the same level as Saints of Los Angeles - the songs are good but you still feel like something's missing.
Saints of Los Angeles music video
The Animal in Me sits right between Mutherf****r of the Year and Welcome to the Machine. It's a love song (well, the metal equivalent of a love song) that is lyrically superior than the previous songs. By that point, my impression of the album after listening to Face Down in the Dirt had completely changed, and I started to enjoy it. Unfortunately, Chicks=Trouble's lyrics once again reminded me of Good Charlotte, only this time, the instrumental was fantastic and completely left the lyrics in the dust.
Finally, This Ain't A Love Song, White Trash Circus, and Goin' Out Swingin' brought the punch that I was looking for and brought a superb end to the album. Goin' Out Swingin' was the perfect ending, a high-tempo song, and what could be a mosh pit favorite. Those last three songs were exactly what I expected from this album, and it's too bad that it took so long for the lyrics and the instrumentals to perfectly mesh together.
All in all, after a great intro and two missteps, the album only grows stronger as it plays on. I wonder if they knew what they were doing when putting the tracks in order for the album's release. I give this album a 3.5/5. If you don't really care about lyrics in hard rock songs, then this album is for you because the instrumentals are really great. If you're looking for deeper, less straightforward stuff, give this album a listen anyway; you might frown at the lyrics but you can't deny that Mötley Crüe still know how to jam.
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