REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: October 12, 2021

PRONG – Cleansing

There are no hairs and graces with this album – it’s straight to the point no nonsense hard core heavy metal. Prong sprang into existence in NYC back in ’86. This absolute classic is their 4th album, and was released in ’94. Tommy Victor has the gift of writing very simple catchy riffs, and matching them with an undeniable groove that makes you want to bounce around your room of doom.

Whose Fist Is This Anyway is the lucky tune that has two monster riffs for you to groove to. The main riff that starts off, and the extra killer riff that closes out the song. That is followed by Snap Your Fingers Snap Your Neck, which carries on the killer vibe with another monster riff. The huge fat sound and relentless beat is a Prong trademark – this song just smokes! Cut Rate is almost Metallica-esque in its thrash metal delivery. Broken Peace is a step away from the norm as the groove is decidedly funky, and that mixed with the overdriven feed backing guitar is freakin’ awesome. My favourite track is the absolute monster sounding, Home Rule. That raw riff and groove is so infectious. I dare you not to exercise your groove muscle and start grooving like a thing possessed!

In case you have missed the clue, I love this album and it gets 10/10 all day everyday from The Grooveman.

SKID ROW – s/t

It seems oh so long ago after hearing this for the first time back in ’89. They were touted as the next big thing and they actually were a big deal – until a mix of grunge and a third album which moved away from the sound that made them successful. I really like Subhuman Race, but it didn’t sell a whole bunch. Dave Sabo was friends with Jon Bon Jovi since school, in fact, he was in Bon Jovi for a while. They had an agreement that whoever made it first would get the other a record deal. It got a bit more complicated that than and would eventually be taken care of by lawyers.

There is no doubt that the first two Skid Row albums hit the spot, and they helped revive a flagging rock scene, where bands like Poison were not seen as cool. The impact of Youth Gone Wild and 18 And Life cannot be underestimated. The band went from nothing to household names in a blink of an eye due to heavy rotation on MTV. Who can believe it?! MTV actually playing music videos! As well as those songs, tracks like Rattlesnake Shake and Midnight Tornado are awesome tunes that make this album a hard rock classic that any rock fan probably owns.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.