UMUR
"Taste of Rebellion" is a live album release by US, California based thrash metal act Lääz Rockit. The album was released through Pony Canyon Records in July 1992 and it was recorded on May 19th, 1992 at the Club Citta in Tokyo, Japan. Lääz Rockit would disband later in the same year and not reunite until 2005, so this was at the time the final statement of the band and the conclusion to their career. While they enjoyed relative success (they even got videos played on MTV´s Headbanger´s Ball), they never broke through on a commercial level which could sustain them into the thrash hostile 90s.
The show on this live release was recorded during their tour supporting "Nothing$ $acred (1991)", which was their latest album at the time, but they had four more studio albums under their belt in 1992 and therefore plenty of material to chose from. The setlist also reflects this, but it is mostly focused on material from the last two studio albums. There´s not a single track from "No Stranger to Danger (1985)" nor from "Know Your Enemy (1987)" featured on the album. "Prelude" and the title track from "City´s Gonna Burn (1984)" are the only "older" tracks which are included. The band have also opted to include the single only track "Leatherface". Personally I won´t complain as "Annihilation Principle (1989)" and "Nothing$ $acred (1991)" are to my ears the band´s strongest releases, but I can see fans of the early releases being a bit dissappointed about the setlist.
The performances are strong. Tight rhythmic playing, sharp riffing and blazing solos, and Michael Coons raw voice and strong delivery in front. The sound production is relatively well sounding too, and it sounds like we get an authentic picture of the performance and not one with little sound tweaks, overdubs, and edits. So "Taste of Rebellion" is overall a pretty strong live release by Lääz Rockit. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.