There are debut albums that can turn the musical world on its ear and then there are those that are just laughable. Lääz Rockit's 1984 debut, City's Gonna Burn is unfortunately one of the latter entrances onto the heavy metal stage. Rife with heavy metal cliches and every cumbersome trapping of the style, this album is simply rotten through and through. Granted, it was made by youngsters who were earnest and sincere, but it's not the sort of thing that ages well. Although the band would grow into and become a credible Bay Area thrash outfit, City's Gonna Burn is more rooted in the orthodox heavy metal of the era. Hints of speed metal and thrash do enter the picture here in there, such as "Take No Prisoners", but generally, the music sticks to genre stipulations. The vocals are overblown and warbling, the songs incorporate all the staples of basic metal, and the songwriting is just flat.

City's Gonna Burn is one of those albums that highlights all the pitfalls metal bands faced in the mid-80s. Lääz Rockit had not yet established a real identity and it is displayed in spades here. This unfortunately would be one of those records made fun of by ironic hip trendy scenester types today, except that it's still a pretty obscure release, even by Lääz Rockit's standards. The good news for the band is that they could only get better from this point, and they did.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 01/2008

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By 1987, Lääz Rockit had developed into a better outfit than their tepid debut, City's Gonna Burn. (It should be noted I have not heard their second LP, No Stranger to Danger, as of this writing. In fact, the last time I saw a copy of it in a store, it was probably 1990.) However, despite improvements, Know Your Enemy still falls into the category of "Dated 80s Metal Albums". The band, hailing from the Bay Area of California, was surrounded by stalwarts of the thrash metal world, but only timidly allowed thrash elements into their music. For the most part, Know Your Enemy sticks to a more orthodox heavy metal sound, complete with the vibrato wailing vocals and riffs designed for arenas the size of a baseball stadium. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the album is the over the top vocal approach of Michael Coons. While metal is obviously a genre where over the top is the norm, his caterwauling is just too much for these old ears. As with many albums, my main gripe is the lack of a few really good songs that shine through the window decoration that is 80s Metal In Your Face. Very little on this album makes me want to pull it back out for another listen. Granted, Know Your Enemy is something I might have liked more back when I was fifteen and eager to hear all things metal, but let's face it, some albums simply don't age gracefully. This just happens to be one of them.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 01/2008

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Based in the same fertile scene that provided the world with the likes Exodus, Testament and all other purveyors of "Bay Area Thrash", Lääz Rockit was one of the better second tier bands of the time period. The band actually even released their debut, City's Gonna Burn, before Exodus could get their seminal Bonded By Blood into the record stores. However, it's almost unnecessary to say who comes first to the tips of everyone's tongues when you think of Bay Area Thrash (particularly since City's Gonna Burn had a bigger footprint in traditional metal than thrash).

Lääz Rockit's sound was definitely quite reminiscient of their peers, firmly fixed in the Testament territory with a bit more of a classic metal tinge to the music. Vocalist Michael Coons is quite similar to Metal Church's Mike Howe, an affected higher pitched howl that was also able to carry a melody fairly well. Annihilation Principle was the band's fourth full-length and featured probably some of the best artwork of 1989 with its creepy industrial/chemical pollution layout. Believe me, that was a selling point for metalhead teenagers everywhere. In fact, it's still one of my favorite covers in metal.

Lääz Rockit tended to keep away from the speedracers in thrash metal, sticking to more of a midpaced crunch and riff-o-rama. That is not to say their music lacks energy. A couple songs, such as "Shadow Company", bog down a bit, but "Chasin' Charlie" and "Mob Justice" have plenty of juice. The album closes with an oddity for the time: "The Omen" is a softer, more somber number but entirely avoids the "power ballad" clichè. The album also features a metalized cover of Bay Area legends Dead Kennedys' "Holiday In Cambodia".

One of the drawbacks to Annihilation Principle is the moderately muddy production, which seems to compress the sound a bit too much. It does dull the impact to a small degree. Otherwise, this album is one of the better second tier Bay Area thrash releases and worth tracking down.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 01/2008

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