Here’s a 90’s L.A band featuring members from Malice, Isom and Black N Blue, they were called Monster.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Monster
ALBUM: Through The Eyes Of The World’
LABEL: Long Island Records
SERIAL: LIR 00073
YEAR: 1995
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Mark Isom – vocals * Mick Zane – guitars * Mark Behn – bass * Pete Holmes – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Spirit Of The Night * 02 Fire In Your Eyes * 03 All Guns Loaded * 04 One Night * 05 Say You Care * 06 South Side Billy *:07 All She Wants * 08 Get Over It * 09 Don’t Get Your Heart Set * 10 Over Now * 11 She’s Got It
WEBLINKS: NA
Background
If you’re an 80’s old school metal fan, you should be highly excited by a 90’s L.A band featuring members from Malice, Isom and Black N Blue. They were called Monster. Their history through this era was unclear considering the dubious state of the rock/metal industry during this timeframe. What is surprising is that high quality lineups like this were still occurring during the grunge years, and this band were one example that flew well under the radar.
Behn and Zane were former members of Malice, Mark Isom was the vocalist of his own 80’s melodic rock band Isom while Pete Holmes held the drum stool for Black N Blue. All three bands featured here at GDM. Celebrated producer Max Norman produced 10 of the 11 tracks with Pat Regan producing the other.
The Songs
‘Spirit Of The Night’ is a fiery opener, riffs and solos galore with Mark Isom leading the way like a boss. ‘Fire In Your Eyes’ is a byproduct of that early 90’s scene, metal with a sleaze edge coupled with big chanty chorus vocals. A song like ‘All Guns Loaded’ could’ve held its own during the late 80’s, comparing similarly to all those rivals who played every El-Lay joint during the 1987-89 timeframe.
‘One Night’ veers to the Warrant side of the road, and sounds OK all things considered. ‘Say You Care’ is the first power ballad, it’s reasonable without setting lighters ablaze. ‘South Side Billy’ is as tough as old boots, think Spread Eagle or Bang Gang in their prime.
‘All She Wants’ dips into party metal territory, think any L.A band who operated in the late 80’s who dabbled in this genre for a comparison. Love Mick Zane’s guitar tone on ‘Get Over It’, very razor sharp with a hint of Stryper on the vocal as well as the rest of the album generally. ‘Don’t Get Your Heart Set’ is the album’s slow tempo ballad stacked to the brim with vocal choruses.
Getting near the end, and I swear I could hear keyboards in the mix on ‘Over Now’. If not for the coarse guitar work, this one could’ve landed in the melodic rock category. Closer ‘She’s Got It’ is a hybrid of that aforementioned party metal sound fused with a hint of sleaze and gritty old school metal. Got it all is about right.
In Summary
‘Through The Eyes Of The World’ was the only album for Monster. It was released in 1995 by Long Island Records, I missed out on this CD at the time, and I probably would have sought it out had I been onto the case earlier. The album was reissued two years later by American label Pulrse Records with one extra track (video track of ‘Fire In Your Eyes’). Worth seeking out if you can find a reasonably priced CD of it. Good luck.
Video
Full Album
