Stephen
2002 is surely a bad year to produce a glam album, I mean, who's going to buy that when nu-metal still rule the world, but thumbs up to Phil Lewis and the gang to deliver such a classy release in the midst of a horrible heavy metal year. 'Waking The Dead' shows L.A.GUNS try to revive their early days sound, but also attempt to adapt with the current climate, resulting in a 75% classic style and 25% modern touch.
Hits for me here are the opening song, 'Don't Look At Me That Way'; the melodic hard rock 'Revolution' and 'Lost In The City of Angels'; 'The Ballad' which is quite obvious, is the ballad of this album; the sleazy 'Hellraisers Ball'; and the fast-paced closer, 'Don't You Cry'. 'OK, Let's Roll' and 'Waking The Dead' are okay, the latter has almost-growly vocal which I believe they never tried before, and 'Frequency' could be the worst song here.
I know lots of fans dig this but I also know that many of the 80s generation missed this because they think by 1993, the game is over, but if you can find this, I strongly recommend you to buy it. It has that punchy riffs they used to have, Lewis scream crazily good here, and the songs are mostly enjoyable. A great criminally-underrated album!