Love/Hate
I'm Not Happy

Hair Metal or Glam Metal is a genre that has rarely managed to strike my emotional chords. Putting aside the legendary Skid Row and the explosive debut of Guns 'n' Roses, I have never appreciated those bands composed of young men with teased hair, makeup, and multicolored bandanas.

But there is always some exception, and if, as mentioned above, I loved Skid Row and early Guns, I don't see why I should turn up my nose at a band that indeed brings back the glam metal sounds of the '80s, yet manages to include Thrash Metal riffs and instrumental digressions that I would dare to call psychedelic.

Love/Hate comes from Los Angeles, the homeland of the genre in question, and they have always shone with their own light. Quite different, in short, from their peers and fellow countrymen Poison or Cinderella.

In 1995 I read an apologetic review about this album. Time passed, and after several years, I decided to make this delicious "I’m Not Happy" mine.

Here Skid Row meets Jane's Addiction and mixes it all with a hint of disorienting sounds.

Guitars that churn out sharp riffs, a shrill and appropriately nasty voice, but also a few romantically flavored ballads. In this sense, I wouldn't forget the whimsical "Love me Down."

A gritty and streetwise rock album that presents us with a genuinely pissed-off band, perhaps due to the little attention the music business has given them.

Yet listening to tracks like the furious "Superfragilistic," the unsettling "Hey Man," or the tongue-twister "Ola Mola," believe me, you won't be able to help but hop around your room. The singer Jizzy's voice is truly superb, the guitarist's work is astonishing, and I wouldn't forget Skid's bass acrobatics. This is an album that doesn't seem to want to age at all. Released at a time of unpopularity for the genre proposed, it was the post-Cobain era, it turned out to be a time bomb.

Thumbs up, then, for these long-haired guys with brains and exquisite taste!