Originally released towards the end of the 80's underground metal scene in the United States,
Lizzy Borden brought forth yet another album of raw, melodic, and spontaneous metal, and made its mark in that underground scene.
Appearing straight out of the
Los Angeles Metal scene in the 80's, Borden (who's real last name is rumored to be Harges and took on the Borden name for the band's namesake) and his band offered something different from the whole glam and glitter of the L.A. scene. Although the look and image was somewhat glam, they had a different approach, adding a more grittier straight ahead balls to the wall Metal sound that literally kicked all the proto-pop Metal groups asses, which unfortunately might have cost this band their big glittering prize among fame, but hats off to them for never selling out (for a total of eight records and almost two decades after the formation, they never have sold out).
Putting musicianship first with two stellar guitarists, Gene Allen and Joe Holmes, who shared dual lead duties, complimenting the rhythm section provided by drummer Joey Scott and Michael Davis, and the pipes of Borden himself, who sounds like Timo
Kotipelto crossed with Rob Halford, provided all the harmonizing that till this day are done in perfect pitch. Their sound was far more heavier than most
Los Angeles bands at the time; the sound defiantly does not have that "sunset strip" bogusness that plagued bands like
Poison and Warrant; Borden's sound is more reminiscent of Creatures of the Night/Lick it Up era
Kiss combined with Painkiller-era
Judas Priest and even Queensryche's first album, but yet they metamorphosized that with a massive stage presence that would reflect in their live performances.
With Visual Lies, every song has hooks galore filled with thick riffs galore, and the occasional sing along anthem shouts, proof is in cuts like
"Den of Thieves" and
"Me Against the World." All songs drive the same fast paced moodiness, but lack any dark gloomy connotations, making you want to do nothing more than crank it up. Most songs like
"Shock," the title cut, and
"Voyeur" have the riff driven intros, and guess what, they do all this without keyboards and going overboard on the production, just stellar songs and exceptional musicianship that proves this band never needed a gimmick, that would have been typical of an L.A. band.
Although released in 1987, Visual Lies is far from sounding dated, and perhaps what makes this album more enjoyable is the job that was done remastering this recording (I have compared both this and the original release, and the difference is extremely present), providing a more crisp and louder sound, with the exception of the somewhat muddy sounding demos that are used as bonus tracks, however the performance on these cuts prove that the musicianship came before any image did, you will be surprised.
If there is one
Lizzy Borden album you should own, this is it, Visual Lies is probably his, well, maybe I should say their pinnacle of heaviness, without any cheese factor involved.
Written by
Hashman Thursday, December 4, 2003
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