Lord Tracy - Deaf Gods Of Babylon (1989)

When I first saw this record in the stores I thought it was some kind of sleaze record, akin to LA Guns, but when it hit the turntable I was pleasantly surprised. Lord Tracy play a crossover thrash...or so I thought, a manic, energetic, frantic assault on thes enses that can be summed up by the seemingly goofy chants of 'Piranha' with its almost zany vocal chants, but the guitars are hot, a raging speed metal earthquake, and yet 'East Coast Rose' starts like some typical '80s sleaze metal anthem, bringing to mind LA Guns, and at this point I'm scratching my head, wondering if this band are just party metal without boundaries. 'Out With The Boys' is another fiery rocker, and by the time I'm hearing 'In Your Eyes' i'm finally getting a bit of stability, deciding that these guys are very straight forward '80s metal but with plenty of macho flexing, but goodness knows where thrash workout 'Piranha' came from, because Lord Tracy are like a looser, more frenetic relative of Ugly Kid Joe. Crazy, sweaty and typically hair metal by the time you get to 'Foolish Love.' So then, far removed from thrash, and just good old crotch grabbing rock after all. 5.5/10