Dangerous Toys - Pissed (1994)

I just don't get it. After the okayish debut and more okayish second opus 'Hellacious Acres', Dangerous Toys are dropped by Sony, probably understandable considering a) they hadn't sold a great deal, b) there were so many sleaze bands around at the time, c) straight edged metal was dying out. Oddly, spending several years never living up to a reputation, DT respond with what is probably their most invigorating record blowing away the sleazy cobwebs and instead taking a leaf out of Skid Row's book and thumping out 'Pissed', a slightly lesser relative to the Row's mighty 'Slave To The Grind'. Sadly, this grunge tinged, scuzzed up, fizzing, hissing record, still epitomises the mid '90s, a world where everything is either the grunge way or the wrong way. Everything here has been turned up a few notches and doesn't dwell on cowboy melodies, because there's too much angst to release. Bold riffs, gluey rhythms, and a dirty face, 'Pissed' does exactly what it says on the tin...however, my big problem with this is that I find it all to be fake. I've always stood by bands who've stuck to their guns, and whilst I believe progression is important for a band, completely changing styles is not something I admire at all. A year after this the band would release the bemusing grunge suck-off 'The R-Tist 4-merly Known As Dangerous Toys', and whilst 'Pissed' offers itself up as a more bruising encounter, I'd still rather be sitting on the porch listening to their brand of sleaze rock because that's where they came from. In my opinion, if a band is going to wipe away its past and change direction altogether, they should change their name and not exist to simply suck up to trends. Skid Row simply rocked hard, Dangerous Toys sucked harder.

4.5/10