Danger Danger - Dawn (1995)

File alongside Dangerous Toys, in the sense that these guys slipped into the '90s mire but by ringing out the changes and by beefing up their once cheesy sound. 'Dawn' is a half-cooked hard rock album, even if it lacks the showmanship of before - in other words - these type of bands can't really win to be honest, damned if they do, damned if they don't. By stripping away the bark Danger Danger have become a more moody, brooding, pensive and serious band, keen to write dark-tinged tracks, in the form of the harder 'Punching Bag' which is laced with grunge, as is the riff-heavy 'Helicopter.' The main issue I have however is that despite these type of bands showing a great deal of maturity, to cope with the grunge invasion they literally shed their skins and became a different band and I'm wondering why they just didn't change their name. There is an element of fakery to this, despite the fact that Paul Laine has a fair set of pipes, the whole experience describes a lost band who didn't have the ability of Skid Row to move with the times. Gone is the naughty naughty attitude, and gone is the old band logo, giving the whole experience a rather drab and stark feel, only 'Heaven's Fallin' brings the original band to mind, but even then this 'ballad' is given a roof of stormy clouds. 5/10