With this,the band's first album after resigning with Gain Records,and five album already into their career at the time,Hardcore Superstar truly arrives once and for all...over and over and over.With its plethora of clever and well thought out material,it's no wonder that this album was nominated for a Swedish Grammy and reached all the way up to a number twelve position on its native record charts. This self-title album from Hardcore superstar is,plain and simply,to cool to be missed!KICK ON THE UPPERCLASS,WE DON'T CELEBRATE SUNDAYS,and WILD BOYS are as good as anything that the sleaze rock movement has delivered to us in many years.Hardcore Superstar lets us,the listeners,know again and again that they are kicking ass and taking names with each of these songs.BAG ON YOUR HEAD and CRY YOUR EYES OUT are two more great examples of effective songwriting,superior performace,and proper execution. With every song here,Jocke Berg's vocals are a constant reminder of what it really means to be dirty and from the gutter,delivering the lyrical content of this band to us on a tarnished(just the way we want it to be)silver platter and letting us know the he means business. Forget about what Axl is doing these days,and don't bother to waste your hard earned money on...what was the name of that album again?Oh,yeah...Chinese Democracy.This album is the real deal!Hardcore Superstar spares nothing in establishing the fact that they are the real deal and that they are the band that should be recognized.

So much has been written on all of the internet blogs and bulletins lately that this is the band that is going to swoop up from the underground and save rock n' roll as we know and love it.What's a lesser known fact is that this band shares much the same history as their sleaze rock compatriots The Backyard Babies,who formed in 1987,only to disband for some time,as guitarist Dregen pursued his musical endeavors with The Hellacopters,and later rejoined to reform the group in 1997. Priscilla had also,actually,been formed way back in 1987,at which point they struggled together for nearly four years to garner a major label deal.It was during this period that most of the songs on this album were recorded.The band then disbanded,while singer El Mar Kramer pursued other musical endeavors,only to reform the group in 2009.

Although the band's current sound is much more reflective of the current crop of harder European sleaze rock,the High Fashion disc shares more similarities with the straight forward glam movement of the Los Angeles Hollywood Blvd. scene circa the mid to late 1980s.Many have compared the band's sound to Pretty Boy Floyd or early Poison,but I am going to dig deeper than that.In fact,the tone of this album is very similar to the works of L.A.'s 1980's glam monsters Tryx or,even more so,Big Bang Babies(very poppy,groove-oriented,and commercially appealing),who were said to have been heavily influenced by this band.Also,singer El Mar Kramer's voice is,at times,the spitting image of BBB singer Kit Ashley's voice(or would that be vice versa?).At any rate,El mar delivers these songs with the perfect sleaze and pop tone for his musical environment. The disc starts out with the war cry Hey,America! and then launches into what was the band's biggest radio hit of the 80's,the aptly-named WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORHOOD;the band's tip of the hat to the glam anthems of the day.Although a very powerful and catchy anthem,I find the album's next track,LICK N' A KISS,to be an altogether more potent delivery of the similar goods.One listen to this song will keep its ultra-catchy tagline repeating in your head for days.Then,we find ourselves at the disc's highlight,of its non-demo tracks;LOVE IN ACTION is a straight-forward,take-no-prisoners hard rocker that would fit right at home on L.A.Guns' debut album or,for that matter,on any present day Hardcore Superstar album worth its salt.A tale of lust and sexuality(perhaps with a prostitute?),delivered with sheer,go for the throat,unbridled enthusiasm.Its breakneck pace delivers a full-on,deadly explosive payload in just two and one half minutes.SOME LIKE IT HOT is another nitro-laden piece of combustible hardware,with a very unique quality to its guitar sound and El Mar's gutter-sleaze vocals fitting right in the appropriate pocket.GIMME LOVIN' TONIGHT,JUST CAN'T STOP,and BROKEN ANGEL(these three being most reminiscent of Big Bang Babies and Tryx)are all instantly memorable,glam rock tours de force.All three of these would have been surefire,runaway chart toppers for this band,in their respective day,would these guys have scored major label recognition.On these,the comparison to a commercially viable band,such as Poison,are inevitable,as they are very mainstream flavored,almost as if they had been specifically manufactured thusly with a consumer audience in mind. The demos on this disc certainly do leave something to be desired,in terms of sound recording quality(sounding that they are,indeed,basement variety demos),but do not let that detour you from giving a listen to two of the most potent pieces of hard rock to come along in some time:HIGH TONIGHT and HIGH FASHION are both equal parts the pièce de résistance of this entire disc.Brilliantly composed and executed in their non-subtle attack;first hitting you over the head when you aren't looking,and then breaking your neck with their whiplash musical assault.These are said to be the lead off tracks from the band's forthcoming album,having already found release in the form of music videos,giving the listener a glimpse into what this band has been up to lately.If the rest of the material on the new disc is anything like these,this band just might bring back rock n' roll as we know and love it!

High Fashion is absolutely necessary listening for any fan of the late 80's underground glam rock movement,and should find its place right at the head of your record library,alongside Three Chords And The Truth by the Big Bang Babies.

It is utterly amazing when an album of this caliber misses its intended mark at the time of its release.Why this album did not sell a million plus copies and pull in the same ranks and score with the very same audience who were picking up the likes of Def Leppard,UFO,Scorpions,and maybe even Motley Crue and Quiet Riot records by the oodles at the time,is beyond me.The Cage is surely every bit as good as anything released by these same underground acts that were spreading their wings and establishing a foothold in the mainstream rock community during this same period,and,yet,only went on to sell 200,000 copies.Perhaps it was,indeed,the reported problems that the band was having with its record label,MCA,over recording and releasing more cover songs in the vein of the ultra-catchy LOVE POTION NO.9(the band's first "hit" single)at the time,that caused this album to be banished to the cut out bins and to be forgotten forevermore.Could a record label possibly be so self-centered,and even egotistical,as to lose sight and take their eye off of the inevitable prize,over a squirmish about artistic control with its most possibly bankable artists at the time?Possibly.At any rate,MCA had their crown jewel sitting in the palm of their hands with this one,and,rather,seemed to choose to turn and to look away from it. But,alas,back to what really matters here...The Cage.An ultra-polished,slick package of charisma-laden,air guitar cranking,foot-stomping,straight-forward,high intensity rock n' roll.From start to finish,from front to back,this disc oozes with so much cool that it's in a constant state of sub zero temperature.The song writing is as exceptional as anything that you'll ever hear coming from this sort of record.The production and layering of tracks is about as good as anything that the much-lauded John "Mutt" Lange was doing with Def Leppard at the time.And,simply put,the sound and tone of the band itself is purely nothing short of brilliant. Singer Jon Deverill's vocals are absolutely right on the money on each and every track on this disc,and make certain songs,such as MAKING TRACKS and PARIS BY AIR(which should have been a HUGE hit for the band),even cooler than they probably initially started out.Imagine perfectly smooth vocal delivery conveyed with optimum power,great range,and sheer dynamics;that's what Deverill delivers time and again.Pitch perfection. The arrangements and structures of mini epics such as RENDEZVOUS and YOU ALWAYS SEE only enhance the bigger than normal sound and overall scope and vision of this disc as a whole,and leave the listener coming away from it feeling that they've just listened to more than your usual commercial hard rock album;almost more like the feeling of having just listened to some of producer Roy Thomas Baker's early works with Queen.It's that good. Any fan of NWOBHM,or,moreover,anyone who has ever owned any commercially successful "heavy metal" album from this era NEEDS to get this disc as part of their record collection.Scratch that...any fan of straight forward hard rock NEEDS to own this disc!

Even if you just pick this album up for Ville Valo's amazing rendition of Blue Oyster Cult's classic DON'T FEAR THE REAPER,it will be money well spent.HIM completely deconstructs and reconstructs this epic song and turns it into an even greater,of almost operatic proprtions,epic.The assisted lead vocal duet of Sanna-June Hyde and Asta Hannula only enhances the sheer brilliance of this chilling performance and makes it a stand alone track,for all time,of monumental stature.And to think that DON'T FEAR THE THE REAPER was merely a demo recording and only an afterthought to be put on this disc that nearly didn't make the final grade,were it not for Ville wanting to bring this disc's total running time to exactly 6:66.But,don't let DON'T FEAR THE REAPER alone sell you on the merits of this album.Greatest Love Songs Vol.666 also introduces the listener to the melodically brilliant and lyrically bittersweet YOUR SWEET SIX SIX SIX,a true rocker for all time...just ask Bam Margera.Ville's take on Chris Isaak's WICKED GAME is another "deep shadow and brilliant highlight" to be found in this collection.WHEN LOVE AND DEATH EMBRACE is simple,yet effective,in its haunting beauty. This album certainly stands worthy of introducing any of the curious to the inner mind and the great artistry that is Ville Valo.

"I Used To Love HIM...But I Had To Kill HIM..."That's what Guns N' Roses would have said,were they to review this immediately forgettable piece of work.It's such a shame,too,as HIM was a band that had shown true promise for the goth/glam community just a few short years earlier.I can certainly appreciate what Ville Valo is trying to say about relationships with his often brilliant narrative prose,but that just isn't enough. What happened?Did cleaning up and setting down the bottle inhibit Ville's creativity?Were the critics,who were,at times,unnecessarily harsh with their reviews for the brilliant Dark Light,too much for Ville to withstand and force him to return to a less hook-structured(and thereby commercially appealing)style and curb his passion for constructing brilliant melodies?Or did Ville simply run his creative well dry of all its juices?Not sure.What can be said,for certain,is that this album is the band's weakest offering to date(even weaker than 2007's equally forgettable Venus Doom). And to think that it took the great Ville Valo three years to deliver us this platter.