Going on where he left off with Methods of Mayhem was the only info I had when I got this CD. Of course, this is somewhat exactly what you’d expect, but on the other hand Tommy had already taken another direction with MoM after having left the Crüe, so he could have surprised me. He didn’t. Even though I am only familiar with the two singles Tommy did with MoM (of which I liked only one), when I put on this new album it was recognition right from the start. The thing that hit me most was the very familiar way he used guitar riffs and especially drums. Kind of metally with a beat-like thing, does that make sense? You only have to listen to the music and you can imagine Tommy hitting away. The kind of slow-ish, powerful way he slams the beats, you can actually hear the way he is built: a big man with long arms and much power. You know what I mean.
After having listened to the album a couple of times, a few things became clear. Tommy has indeed gone on where MoM had ended, so if you like that, that is a good thing. The rougher songs are really powerful and well, they rock. So that takes care of the first two songs....
Song number three is a special thing. Tommy has somehow found it necessary to do a cover of David Bowie’s “Fame”. Why? I really haven’t got a clue. Okay, so he made a kind of rock/metal thing of it, so if you ever wanted to bang your head on a Bowie song, here it is.

But doing a cover is one thing, doing it right is another. In his attempt to turn the song into something original, he has totally abandoned the idea that you also have to be albe to listen to it. What you end up with is a gathering of loose ends which only slightly represent the original song. Shame.
Even though there are actually only three ballad-like songs on the album, after listening to the album a few times, I had the feeling that the more I listened, the more ballads were on the album. Of course, three songs out of twelve is not too bad, but not only are they put between the other songs in the most annoying way (ballad-rock-ballad-rock and so on), I sometimes think that even one (compulsory) ballad is already too much. This is one of those times I feel the need to say: who needs a ballad? If you want to be an asskicker, you don’t want to do a ballad. And definitely not three. Truly a shame, because the other songs really kick ass once you get over the initial disappointment of the very recognizable sound. Of course, not everybody finds that a disappointment of course, and you do have to keep your own sound, but still you have to bring something new as well, don’t you?