'Slaughter's' first release since the tragic death of original guitarist 'Tim Kelly', his replacement being the little known but very capable 'Jeff Blando'. Gone is the 'psychedelic' feel of 'Revolution' as 'Slaughter' stick to their more straight up hard rock approach, similar in places to 'Fear no Evil', but as with the previous release not quite as striking.

This album promises a lot with the first three tracks as they are pretty memorable. 'Killin Time' is a heavy hitter, especially for 'Slaughter', lyrically aggressive, musically forceful and combines well for a great opener while 'Jeff Blando' immediately impresses with some crunchy fret work to make this a splendid rocker. Even better in my opinion is the hot rocking 'All Fired Up' again the guitar work is full of sweet hooks and solos as all good 'Hair Metal' new or old should be, 'Mark Slaughter' continues to sound hotter than a microwaved apple pie and this cracker is my pick of the album. Next up is the distortion heavy 'Take me Away', the rhythm work is slashing and effective, while the chorus oozes vitality, a little reminiscent of work from 'Revolution' but a lot heavier and uncompromising. A good slice of 'AC/DC' is felt on the plodding 'Dangerous', not one of my personal favourites as lyrically it's repetitive and predictable, however 'Dana Strum' and 'Blas Elias' turn in credible performances. Much superior is the thumping 'Trailer Park Boogie', a loud, in your face burn out, full of cracking guitar licks, belting drum and bass work and 'Mark Slaughter' on stellar form- overall very 'Vinnie Vincent Invasion' in approach. Things start to slip with the balladsy 'Love is Forever', while a decent slower number, it feels like it's been done before one way or another, sure the chorus is catchy but this track is 10 years too late to be effective. Not really sure what they were trying on the 'Guns 'N' Rose's' sounding 'Bad Groove', some sections sound quite neat, unfortunately the 'Axel Rose' style vocals sound out of place along with the strangely distorted guitars. The pace is dropped for the second ballad 'On my Own', I prefer this to 'Love is Forever', as this has a nice laid back chug, and highlights some great 'Mark Slaughter' vocals, other than that it's pretty predictable. Don't know what they were thinking of with the instrumental 'Silence of Ba', a directionless effort if ever I heard one. Progress is made with the 'Zeppelin' sounding 'Headin for a Dream', It starts out as a trippy carefree jaunty, but picks up into a solid plodding rocker. The final full track takes the shape of 'Nothin Left to Lose' a mid tempo endeavour, that never really gets going in my opinion. Lastly is an untitled hidden track, that is just a studio fool about and not really worth including.

With the exception of the first three rockers and 'Trailer Park Boogie' this is a pretty mixed affair. If you like the less intense 'Slaughter' material you will probably enjoy the rest, If like me, you favour the harder stuff, pick up a copy of 'Fear no Evil', which has a good number of quality rockers.