UMUR
"Know Your Enemy" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, San Francisco, California based heavy/thrash metal act Lääz Rockit. The album was released through Enigma Records in September 1987 and it´s the successor to "No Stranger To Danger" from 1985. Lääz Rockit was formed in 1982 and was an active part of the early Bay Area scene, although the early part of their discography only features very few thrash metal elements.
"Know Your Enemy" is the album where Lääz Rockit crosses the border into thrash metal territory more than just dipping their toes like they did on their first two releases. There´s still a strong traditional heavy metal element in the music though and I´d call the music on "Know Your Enemy" 50% thrash metal and 50% traditional heavy metal.
The musicianship is on a high level on all posts, which isn´t that surprising if you´re familiar with the preceding releases. Lääz Rockit was always a very well playing act, delivering their music with the right amount of badass attitude and passionate conviction. A pounding rhythm section, hard edged riffing/blistering solos, and the powerful and raw sounding vocals by Michael Coons in front. The material is generally well written and predominatly vers/chorus structured. It´s catchy and easily accessible music and while it´s not wildly adventurous in nature, Lääz Rockit are able to deliver even the most generic heavy metal tracks/lyrics with conviction.
"Know Your Enemy" feautures a raw, organic, and powerful sounding production, which suits the music well and overall it´s another quality release by Lääz Rockit. Personally I like them best when they play the more traditional sounding heavy metal tracks, than when they are more thrashy (at least on this album), as the vocal melodies on the more heavy metal oriented tracks are more memorable, but Lääz Rockit generally masters both styles pretty well. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.