LA Knights
RUBBER CITY MELTDOWN

There's something that's just plain cool about a throwback band like the LA Knights. I'm not sure what it is. I'm sure for a lot of people, they will just scoff at them as dated dudes stuck in the 80s that haven't "grown with the times". That's always a convenient cop out excuse to me, especially when you look at how the rock world has grown. If you ask most people to name 5 great bands from the 80s, within seconds you'll get five names thrown back at you (top of my head, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Dokken). It will literally take them a second. As the same question for five great bands from 2000-2010. The names don't come back quite so quickly, now do they? The reason is simple. The music was just better, or at a minimum more memorable universally. I'm the first guy that will admit that a LOT of the bands from the 80s were pretty embarrassing, but more times than not, they just weren't. At least musically, they were almost all solid. To do a throwback band now, you not only have to be excellent musically, but you also have to be thick skinned enough to not take the criticism to heart. Meet Akron, Ohio's LA Knights!

Drowning Pool
RESILIENCE

Is there anyone that even knows what the identity of "Drowning Pool" is even supposed to mean these days? Let's face it, the ONLY reason that name means anything is because their debut produced the song "Bodies" and shortly after their singer died. Since then, this "band" has literally been a revolving door of singers so that they never established an actual identity past "Bodies" and the followup "Sinner". Having met these guys many times, they are certainly nice enough guys. Their heart is also in the right place, specifically with the way they go out of their way to support the troops with visits to war zones, supportive songs and whatnot. All of that said though, it doesn't spare them the fact that by changing singers every couple of years, they never established much of a groove or a "signature sound" where you hear it and go, "oh, that's Drowning Pool". Once again, for the fourth time actually, there's a new singer fronting Drowning Pool. This guy's name is Jason Moreno. He's OK, I guess. That said though, RESILIENCE suffers once again from what has plagued this band...zero identity.

Rob Zombie
VENOMOUS RAT REGENERATOR VENDOR

It's been a long time since Rob Zombie did an album that was actually worth listening to. For many, he was done after the first HELLBILLY DELUXE release. To say the least, he's never been that good since. Having been a fan of Zombie up to that point, be it the "Rob" or the "White" variety, his career since then where there was music painted around his movie and directing careers, has been spotty at best. While I still listen to ASTROCREEP about once a month, I can't remember the last time I listened to SINISTER URGE or EDUCATED HORSES. I know it hasn't been recently. Even knowing a new release was coming didn't lead me back to those releases. Zombie has surprised me, and many for that matter, with VENOMOUS RAT REGENERATOR VENDOR. Wtihout question, this is the best release Zombie has done in a LOT of years. While no one will mistake VENDOR as a classic recording by any means, it's the most fun album he's done in a very long time. Rob Zombie is back...at least somewhat.