L.A. Guns : "Leopard Skin'

 

If Tracii Guns and Phil Lewis are both in the band it's L.A. FUCKING Guns to me. The past few albums have held up their legacy, so here's to hoping this one does, and the first two songs find them staying true yet not stagnant. They have the sleazy vibes from their era, but more slathered in blue grooves. It's more rock n roll than metal.  Phil Lewis sounds great. Amazingly, he is 68 years old. Holy shit. That is four years older than Vince Neil, and he sounds better than Neil has since "Dr. Feelgood". For a song like "Hit and Run," they are going into a more Doors-like sonic place, but it makes sense as a more mature step for the band that works even though it's removed from their hair metal past. It is jammed out a little more than you might want for them, but it still works.  

What makes an L.A. Guns album worthwhile in 2025, you ask? Much like other bands, they are judged by their songs. Do they hold up against the quality of work we have come to expect from this band? "Don't Ginme Away" has a more Rolling Stones like shuffle to it, but it is one of the colors they have been employing since "Cocked and Loaded". Perhaps it's not Lewis's most inspired vocal we have heard on this album, but it's in line with what they do, and he is not trying to be someone else. There are some great rock n roll guitar tones on this album. I prefer when they are ripping and tearing it in a more metallic direction, but at 68, he's not as angry.  Guns is an underrated guitarist as there is a Hendrix-like quality to his playing on this song. 

"I'm Your Candy Man" has more of an Aerosmith-like groove to it. The blues inflects get thicker on "Runaway Train," which might take things in a more Led Zeppelin direction, and reaches the bounds of how far they should try to take this sort of thing. Throughout working my way through this album, I have also taken my time and gone back to listen to some of the older stuff, especially giving "Cocked and Loaded" a closer listen and this not far removed that era, as a song like "Rip and Tear' is more rock n roll than metal, when you listen to it today. "Follow the Money" has a groove that at times brings Aerosmith to mind, at other times Alice Cooper. I was not expecting "The Masquerade" to be the album's ballad. "If You Wanna' closes the album with a blues-flavored rock that shows you how they were doing this sort of thing before Buckcherry. I will give this album a 9.5, it works for what they do and upholds the band's already impressive legacy when it comes to this kind of leather-clad rock n roll. 

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