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L.A. Guns: The Missing Peace
L.A. Guns - The Missing Peace CD Album Review

L.A. Guns: The Missing Peace

Melodic Hard Rock
4.5/5.0

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Frontiers Music
Review: Craig Hartranft
Added: 11.10.2017

Will wonders never cease? I'm not talking about divine miracle intervention, but the unlikely resurrection of a classic band. Most of us know L.A. Guns and their significant early success in the Eighties. We also remember the following sporadic output, revolving door personnel changes, splits, and then two current versions of the band run by principal songwriters vocalist Philip Lewis and guitarist Tracii Guns, respectively. What a freakin' fiasco. Well, Lewis and Guns got the band together meaning, believe it or not, the original line up. Holy crap! So here's the result, the new and latest eleventh album The Missing Peace.

L.A. Guns - The Missing Peace Band Photo

L.A. Guns

With such a profound, perhaps even unexpected, revival I'm guessing expectations are running high, even a bit hot, for the L.A. Guns reunion. Recently, after a 20 year absence, fellow Californians Autograph dropped Get Off Your Ass, a fine return to form and a killer album. Is The Missing Peace of similar character and quality? The simple answer is probably, yeah, I think so. Though I was not a huge fan of the band, L.A. Guns delivers some exceptional and entertaining melodic hard rock, dosing it with a bit of Sunset sleaze, punk bluster, and latent blues groove. Lewis as a vocalist is in fine form, and Guns lays down some tough riffs and thrilling solos.

For some straight up hard rockers look to It's All Same To Me, Kill It Or Die, The Devil Made Me Do It, and Speed. The latter two tap into that sleaze and punk vibe that made Eighties big hair rock both viable and nasty. Alternatively, a song such as Don't Bring A Knife To A Gunfight, while a rousing rocker, turns more on arena ready AOR rock groove, very catchy. You'll catch L.A. Guns digging into their blues roots with The Flood's The Fault Of The Rain, a personal favorite. Ballads come with an ode to a girlfriend, Christine, and later with the closing heavier anthem, Gave It All Away. Suffice to say, The Missing Peace finds L.A. Guns revived and refreshed, offering, once more, some engaging and entertaining classic Eighties melodic hard rock. Recommended.



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The Bottom Line

The Missing Peace finds L.A. Guns revived and refreshed, offering, once more, some engaging and entertaining classic Eighties melodic hard rock. Recommended.

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