Vanity Insanity – Piece Of Her Cake (CD)

Swedish sleaze rockers Vanity Insanity have been going for ages, but never got their break, due to member changes and other unfortunes. Now, finally, the debut album “Piece Of Her Cake” has been released! Long overdue, but well worth waiting for! The album kicks off with “On Your Knees”, which sounds like something Mötley Crüe could have written for the “Girls Girls Girls” album. Singer Viggo Vain sounds a bit like a young Vince Neil, but better. He’s got a distinct, high pitch, strong voice that really pierces through the music. “Drop Dead” kicks off in the vein of Whitesnake’s “Still Of The Night”, but continues in its own lane. This is really good!! The title track ripps into riff mode with a cool quirky riff pattern that really caught my attention. It continues in the vein of colleagues Crazy Lixx, but I must admit I do like these guys a bit better. “Dented Halo” kicks off with some distorted bass, a cool shreddy solo and goes into heavy sleaze mode. If you’re into bands like Crazy Lixx, Crashdiët, Kickin’ Valentina etc., this is an album you shouldn’t miss out on! Kick ass stuff indeed!

Janne Stark

Label: self-released

Country: Sweden

Year: 2017

WHITE TRASH PRESIDENTS – s/t (CD)

If you’re into heavy Swedish sleaze rockers such as Hardcore Superstar, Crazy Lixx and Crashdïet, you simply have to check out the new SweDane unit: White Trash Presidents and I’m sure they will be added to your list. This band’s 8-track debut will hit you like a ton of bricks! With their roots in bands like Starats and Crazy Lixx these four guys takes the best from their previous bands and mix it into something that kicks their background firmly in the ass! “White Trash Presidents” and “One Fuse Left” will hit you like a ton of bricks! The band features former Starrats singer Magnus MP Möller and guitarist Dennis Post, flanked by former Crazy Lixx bassist Loke Rivano and drummer Brion Wekin. “Smack Me Around” is a bit mellower, closer to Enuff Z’nuff, which is ok by me. “Pushin’ Daisies” gets the power machine back in action with its heavy and grinding riffing. Every album needs a ballad, right? Well, I don’t think they do, but when they do they better bring me something that hits me. Well, this one contains two. “Cryin’” starts out pretty cool, but hell does break loose and it becomes a pretty bluesy powerful thing in the end. Nice soloing indeed by Mr Post! “Lovesong” finishes the album and this one is a pretty epic piano ballad with a pretty cool arrangement. I really like this one, indeed! “Lovers & Haters” and “Psycho Dad” also offer the, by now obligatory, punch in the face! The production and sound reminds me quite a bit of Hardcore Superstar, but to be honest White Trash Presidents hit me harder. This is really good stuff!

Janne Stark

Year: 2014
Label: WTP Music (private)

Country: Sweden

Link: www.whitetrashpresidents.com

VANITY INSANITY - Drop Dead (printed CD-R)

I had the great pleasure of getting acquainted with Vanity Insanity at the Rock Out Wild festival. A bunch of nice and great sounding guys live. The band’s first four-track demo proves the songs are just as strong when listening without the live experience. It kicks off with sleazy rocker Better Without You with it’s cool riffing and Skid Row-attitude. Viggo is a great singer with the perfect attitude and vocal tone for the musical direction, with a bit of Sebastian Bach tone actually. The song written for the Rock Out Wild festival is a great groovy rocker with some detuned riffing going on. Drop Dead starts out a bit like Still Of The Night but takes its own path, just as heavy though. Dented Halo is a straight ahead rocker in the vein of classic Poison meets Crüe. Songs that should attract any fan of good old sleaze. The demo was recorded very quickly, which unfortunately shows in the mix and delivery. Give this band a proper studio, a great engineer and I’m sure they will give bands like Crashdïet, Crazy Lixx and Loud ‘N Nasty a run for their money!
Janne Stark
Label: self-released
Year: 2011
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.myspace.com/Vanity.Insanity

CRAZY LIXX - New Religion (CD)

Boy, this sure feels like a nice step-up! I’d lie if I said I was a big fan of this Swedish sleaze/glam unit. However, this time they have really got a tight and great sound, songs that work and a singer that don’t promise more than he delivers, and he really does deliver! Crazy Lixx is by no means inventive or unique. Opener “Rock In A Hard Place” reminds me a bit of Bon Jovi’s “Dead Or Alive” here and there, while the subsequent “My Medicine” starts of with a riff that could be a cousin of Poison’s “Unskinny Bop”. “Blame It On Love” may as well have been a lost power ballad by Pretty Maids and the choruses on the album oozes of John “Mutt” Lange’s classic Def Leppard production. Well, it sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m actually not, as this is a really good album! It doesn’t sound like anything Swedish. My guess, without knowing, would have been a lost gem from the mid/late eighties with unusually great production (especially the pleasant lack of the horrible BIG drums). What surprises me is that this album is less glammy than I expected, that there’s more AOR in the choruses and that this is closer to classic melodic hard rock, than glam. It actually wasn’t until the cowbell entered in “Lock Up Your Daughter”, not that the track is any less good because of that. “She’s Mine” is however a bit too poppy for me, almost sounding like something Bryan Adams could have written. The album of course has the classic powerballad in “What Of Our Love”, which could have become a huge hit if the almanac read 1986, instead of 2010. A short, but sweet, slide thingy opens the road for my favourite track on the album, the stomping riffster “Voodoo Woman” which closes the album in the perfect manner. This album was a nice surprise and I suspect this may well be THE party album of 2010.
Janne Stark


Category: Melodic hard rock
Label: Frontiers
Year: 2010
Country: Sweden
Website: http://www.crazylixx.com/