Album: Bezerk
Release year: 1990
Syle: Glam Metal
Quick introduction: Tigertailz is one of those bands I never was a very big fan of. Not that I've ever disliked them but I never thought they were anything extra ordinary either. Their image (particularly the hideous haircuts) were definitely competing with bands like King Kobra, though. I was really into glam metal during the time frame 2007-'09, or "hair metal" as I always referred to it. I listened to a lot of relevant bands of that time and genre, and I discovered lots of great but obscure bands. Tigertailz, however, were just "another band" to me. Never leaving much of a mark for me back then, I haven't really revisited this album in the past 10 years - until now.
1. Sick Sex
Hearing this opener makes me think of two things: it sounds like quite the "typical" glam metal opener of the time (late 80's), but it also sounds rather generic. Put this up against a glam metal masterpiece opener, such as GN'R's "Welcome To The Jungle" or Ratt's "Wanted Man", and this is just proof that Tigertailz is nowhere near the same league as many of their peers. Not bad but not very engaging either.
2. Love Bomb Baby
Probably my clearest memory of this record but not in a positive matter. I suppose this was the album's "big hit" and I can understand why, but to me it just sounds cringey as fuck. The ultra-happy intro choir just rubs me the wrong way immediately. There's also a cheesy AOR-ish keyboard which makes it sound more dated than anything else on the album. Nope, time hasn't changed my opinion about this song.
3. I Can Fight Dirty Too
Now we're startin' to talk here. This is one of the album's rockers and possibly also the best track on the entire album. It's got a pretty nice drive and actually sounds way more instrumentally engaging and energetic than "Sick Sex". Pretty good riff and quite catchy chorus. Not awesome but definitely a song I could come back to again.
4. Noise Level Critical
I remember reading old Kerrang mags I bought from Ebay to get old band posters back when I was a teenager. They used this song's title for their concert reviews page. The song itself is very Van Halen-esque and pretty decent. I defintely would've prefered this as a single over "Love Bomb Baby" (and with that said, I have no idea if this was a single/video as well).
5. Heaven
I remembered this track. Kind of. I remember it being a ballad and that I thought it was pretty good, but I had forgotten the song itself. Hmm, it's still pretty good. I mean, it's very soppy and kind of "wimpish" and the lyrics are lame, but it's just what you'd expect from your typical hair metal ballad of the time. It reminds me of Steelheart. If nothing else then at least it's something to make out to with my girlfriend.
6. Love Overload
This starts off really good with a heavy if somewhat unimaginative riff. Think earlier Dokken or similar heavy hair bands closer to the mid 80's. Overall it's an okey song but the simple yet poppy chorus drags down its potential a notch. There's a pretty cool harmonica later in the song, though.
7. Action City
So this one started really good with another engaging riff only to kill itself when everything else kicked in. It's like they wanted to play a fast rocker at first but then they switched into your generic hair metal filler. Wasted opportunity.
8. Twist And Shake
Shalala la laaa... Shut the fuck up already. Annoying as fuck intro. Overall this is along the lines of "Love Bomb Baby", being another jolly and cringey sing-a-longish earsore.
9. Squeeze It Dry
This sounds like something off of Dokken's "Back For The Attack" album, being a rather positive thing in this case. Not the best track but it's definitely one of the better ones on the album. I like the calm mid-breakdown in the song. It's actually the only thing on the entire album that sounds like 90's music, reminding me of that one 90's song everybody's heard in some movie (forgive me for not remembering its name right now).
10. Call Of The Wild
Why did seemingly every band have a song with this title in the 80's? Doesn't matter, though. This is finally more of that up-tempo heaviness that left me hungering for more earlier during the album's playthrough. Still nothing extra ordinary for the genre but a solid enough closer and overall pretty cool. Along with "I Can Fight Dirty Too" I'd say this is my favorite track on the album. It's also got the best guitar solo on the entire album.
Overall impression:
So I've gotta admit that this wasn't exactly the most positive comments I've had to say about an album. My memory served me more or less correctly, though. To say it's bad is perhaps an overstatement. I'm sure there are glam metal fans out there who loves this band and this album. To my ears, however, it's a very mediocre album of its genre. There are very few moments that really catch my attention and those are all very second-rated stuff.
Having heard countless of bands in this genre, I'm just not so easily impressed. Hell, this album was a (very small) part of me ten years ago. Ten freakin' years. At that time I had more acceptance toward this kind of bands because I was so heavily dedicated to hair/glam metal. These days, however, most of those bands aren't still around in my speakers.
My ticket into Tigertailz was when I watched the video to the re-recording of "Living Without You". I thought that track was awesome. I still do. But that's also a whole nother level I feel the band never managed to reach again, further making this album something of a disappointment as its songs pale in comparison. For a hair metal album this just doesn't reach beyond an "average" to me. To compare it to all metal in general... I'm not even gonna be that much of a douche.
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