Brides Of Destruction is the new super group founded by long-time friends Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) and Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns). The whole idea for the band came about in 2002 when the pair started having serious discussions about joining forces. Taking a name suggested by a mutual friend, Brides of Destruction was born. Rounding out the line-up is long time session drummer Scot Coogan and newcomer London LeGrand on lead vocals. Wanting a total unknown for the lead vocal duties to avoid similarities and comparisons with previous bands, London's name came up and after nailing Motley Crue's Live Wire and Sweet's No You Don't at his audition, Nikki and Tracii knew they had their man.

Tired of waiting for the new Guns N' Roses album to ever see the light of day? Brides Of Destructions' Here Come The Brides may just be the ticket to satisfy your craving for some raw, punk-edged L.A. hard rock. Sounding a lot like the Motley Crue debut Too Fast For Love production-wise, this new album was cut pretty much in a live situation and as a result, has a raw unrefined edge that's missing from a lot of today's polished and Pro-tools enhanced recordings. This album kicks off with a bang and the lead-off single, Shut The Fuck Up. It's a raw and punk-edged track that has great energy and London LeGrand comes off sounding like a seasoned veteran vocalist rather than a newcomer to the scene. The high octane continues with another blistering track, I Don't Care; a fast power chord fest still with the punk-like edge with London sounding like Axel Rose from the Appetite For Destruction album. The tempo changes briefly for the intro to I Got A Gun before booming heavy riffs invade for the chorus sections. Some nice lead guitar by Tracii Guns over a mellower interlude mid-song round out another solid track. The band continues with the energetic style on 2X Dead; a song filled with heavy riffing and very catchy melodies.

If the album had continued with the raw energy and attitude of the first four tracks, I believe we would've had a hard rock classic on our hands. Unfortunately, the band mixes in some more traditional melodic hard rock with tracks like Brace Yourself, Natural Born Killers and Life (featuring Scot Coogan on vocals). There's nothing wrong with these tracks as they still have an edge and a certain catchiness, it's just that they stray too far into typical 80's L.A. hard rock that up until now, was pretty much absent. Also, the ending track, Only Get So Far is a power ballad that was written by Nikki Sixx and James Michael for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Sure it gets the full "Brides" treatment but it pales in comparison to the rest of the album and shouldn't have been a closing song. The only real gem in the last half of the album is Revolution, a return to the raw heavy style of the first four tracks.

All in all, a solid debut album from the "Brides" but I wish they had stuck to the more raw edged stuff as those sorts of tracks on this album are really smokin'. The rest of the album is still good and has some great melodies but the edge just isn't there. For a debut album that's had so much hype over the last year or so, you'd think that they would offer the CD buying public a little more than 38 minutes of music....yup that's all you get here. A solid concise album that has lots of great tracks, some catchy ones and a couple of average ones. I really wasn't expecting to be blown away by this band/album but I'm pleasantly surprised at how good some of it is. More surprisingly, I think it could've been so much better. A solid and mature sound for a new band and they could really kick some serious ass (i.e. the one belonging to Axel Rose!!) if they keep up with the direction they're heading. This album's out March 9 and is really worth checking our for Motley Crue, L.A. Guns and especially Gun 'N Roses fans.