LA Guns have the be the single most inconsistent band in rock n roll. The same outfit that delivered classics like their debut, Cocked & Loaded, Hollywood Vampires, Vicious Circle and Waking The Dead are also responsible for the turkeys American Hardcore, Shrinking Violet and the very average albums The Missing Piece, Hollywood Forever and The Devil You Know.

Now have another absolute turd on their hands.

When seeking to defend a particular sound or direction, I often hear words like raw, live, 70s infused, punky… I prefer a more direct approach – like unlistenable, demo quality and shite.

It’s not like all the songs suck, I’m really taken with the heavy ballad ‘Diamonds’ for example and there are some memorable hooks elsewhere. But it all just sound terrible. There’s some of the old school punky vibe of the debut and Vicious Circle in some tracks and some good ol’ LA Guns sleaze elsewhere, but the album is totally unlistenable. It sounds like an audience bootleg of a 1975 Sex Pistols show.

The mix is horrid, the drums sound like they were recorded in the same lavatory Tracii Guns recently played a gig from and the vocals are so hollow, its hard to imagine how they could be so badly recorded then mixed into the tracks.

Tracii Guns sounds like a guitar god on several tracks, he’s a class player; and Phil Lewis still has the voice, but hearing both at their best without risking permanent damage to your ear drums is just not worth it. This album cannot be played at loud volume. Or any volume really.

By now anyone familiar with Revolution Saints would be aware of the lineup change – Blades and Aldrich out and Pilson and Hoekstra in. Despite that kind of major upheaval, there’s not much difference here. The Deen Castronovo fronted project’s fourth album is more or less exactly the same as the last three. Except the songwriting has grown stale.

The music is still produced and mainly written by Alessandro Del Vecchio again, so you can simply exact more of the same again here. And that’s exactly where the problem is. The songs. They are just a repeat of the material available on the first three albums – right down to style, lyrics and sound.

The songs in particular suffer from a lack of personality. I’ve heard all of this before. Not only the other Rev Saints albums, but on Hardline, Sunstorm, Skills and any number of other ADV penned projects for Frontiers.

While the performances within cannot be faulted – Deen sings with his usual melodic gusto; Jeff Pilson drives the rhythm and Joel Hoekstra shreds like the super-talented madman he is. There are some great solos here especially.

But the songs for the most part go nowhere. The first 3 tracks don’t interest me at all.

‘Kids Will Be Kids’ has a bit more bite and a more memorable hook before the album highlight of the ballad ‘I’ll Cry For You Tonight’ and the darker anthem ‘Crime Of The Century’ add some spark.

After that its back downhill to the usual fare and with it goes my interest in the album overall.

Its simply a superfluous addition to the Revolution Saints catalogue. No growth or development in their sound whatsoever. And the fact two albums were recorded at the same time and a third is planned…leaves one wondering at what point fans will vote with their feet and walk away from this project.