The Last Vegas—Sweet Salvation

Review by Luis A. Apolaya

This Chicago-based heavy metal/glam metal/could-have-been-hair-metal-a-couple-of-decades-ago band provides a satisfying and refreshing dose of heavy rock n’ roll to those who think it has been obfuscated by the rise of indie rock and pop punk. Recommended: 1, 6. RIYL Mötley Crüe, Van Halen, KISS, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Queens of the Stone Age. FCC in track 8.

*1. (4:30) Guitar and drums seep into track during 50-second intro, then switches to swaggery early 90s alt-rock tempo with hair-metalesque vocals, the riffs are actually pretty catchy.
2. (3:24) Mid-fast, think something like the guitar work of “Immigrant Song” with periodic interruptions
3. (3:19) Mid-fast, track reeks of generic riffs and drum work.
4. (4:34) Mid-tempo, the pace of the drums and snarl of the riffs make me imagine this track’s music video as a more suggestive and heavy-rock-oriented version of MJ’s “The Way You Make Me Feel”
5. (4:10) Mid-tempo, more of a mid-70s classic rock feel
*6. (3:46) Mid-fast, dat bass doe, heavy riffs, unabashedly raucous instrumentation feels like something the Red Hot Chili Peppers would like to do, but still maintains a glam metal feel
7. (2:59) Mid-tempo to mid-fast, as ominous and sneaky as your vocals can get in a hair metal song
8. (3:42) FCC “motherfucker,” “fuck”, just don’t play this one, it’s kinda the same thing as the rest of the album anyway
9. (4:11) Mid-tempo, though the glam rock aura is still very much here, somehow it seems to borrow from the early 90s alt-rock scene.