Thursday, May 21, 2015

CD review: SALEMS LOTT Salems Lott by Dave Wolff

SALEMS LOTT
Salems Lott
Independent
My first thought of Salems Lott was that they reminded me of Loudness around the time Thunder In The East was out. At that time I was undergoing my transition from rocker/metaller to die hard thrasher (which in turn led to the eclectic musical tastes I have today). There was a long period when I shunned arena rock, but in this modern age of American Idol, boy bands and formulaic reconstituted pop I would take almost anything else. Salem’s Lott doesn’t pander to trendies. Touting themselves “violent Hollywood shock metal”, the band is creative, expressive, cutting edge and basically everything shock rock should have been in the 80s. Note that I said “shock rock”, not “cock rock”. If you’re expecting the latter you’ll be sorely disappointed, that’s for certain. Gene Simmons once stated you don’t play with your mind, you play with your dick; Salem’s Lott makes a more than convincing argument for the other side. The band take the darker visual elements of Motley Crue (Shout At The Devil) and EZO, combining them with the classical experimentation of the aforementioned Loudness and the late, great Randy Rhoads to spawn something frightening and original. Also added are some goth and thrash elements, something it was unheard of for glam bands to do when they were appearing on MTV from 1987 to ‘89. The band’s single/video “No Choice To Love” resonates a great deal with tales of vampirism somewhat similar to goth bands from the 90s to the present, and the rest of the album contains some unexpectedly brilliant moments with overlapping guitar solos and classical guitars. -Dave Wolff