Rough Edge: Elegantly Wasted CD Reviews

ELEGANTLY WASTED

"Desolation Row" (Flaco; 2007)

Reviewed by Metal Mark

With all the hard rock/glam bands pouring out of Sweden and other places it almost seems a little shocking these days to find a young hard rock band that is actually from L.A. Yet Elegantly Wasted are indeed based in L.A. and this is their second release.

It took me several plays to really figure out what I thought about this one. It's likely that I was taken aback by the somewhat simple approach at first, but eventually it set in that this style works for this band. Sometimes a little is more than enough if you know what to do with it.

This band sounds roughly like a mix between Guns N'Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. That would be GNR back when they were about music instead of just about empty promises and STP, say, during their first two releases.

The music is simple, but overall effective due to the fact that they know how to use their chops and they waste no time in moving the songs along. The vocals from Lenny J. were also consistently appealing and managed to be both smooth or raw according to what the moment called for.

Somehow this album sounds like a band who loved 80s hard rock but, unlike a lot of hard rock bands, they were not put off by early-mid 90s rock as well. The two styles are not that different in some ways and this band took some of the stronger elements of both and blended them. No, the result is not overwhelmingly different from anything you have ever heard. However it's a bare bones rock album that actually rocks and I think that is all they are trying to accomplish.

In a day of sometimes over-polished, overdone and overcomplicated music I found this album to be a fairly refreshing release that I will probably be playing loudly over the next few weeks.

For more information, check out http://www.myspace.com/elegantlywasted.

Rating Guide:

A classic. This record will kick your ass.

Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.

So-so. You've heard better.

Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.

Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.

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