Slaughter

I

n September of 1988 vocalist Mark Allen Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum, both ex of Vinnie Vincent Invasion, got together to form a classic "hair Glam band" completed by Tim Kelly (guitar) and Blas Elias (drums). In April 1990 their 'Crysalis' released million selling debut Stick It To Ya was released to a resounding 18 US charting position by featuring the tonsil shaking vocals of Slaughter himself fronting a formulaic but professional and commercial sound, helped greatly by their tour support for Kiss.

The follow-up The Wild Life emerged in 1992 to an 8 US/64 UK But despite its charting spots, it still failed in the long term with the soon-after advent of the grunge movement slipping under the radar as the music of youth choice, rendering Slaughter's style out-of-date. The issues were compounded by Kelly's legal problems due to drug offenses. The independently released Fear No Evil surfaced in 1995 to little interest.

Now on the infamous 'C.M.C.' label, a record label known as the "old age home" for many should-be heavy metal retirees, and with MTV long abandoning the sound that gave Slaughter their start, Slaughter was resigned to release their Revolution (1997) with a tougher sound but somehow managing to maintain their basic hard rock style.