{"id":49807,"date":"2015-07-08T21:49:04","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T02:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49807"},"modified":"2015-07-08T21:49:04","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T02:49:04","slug":"shotgun-messiah-shotgun-messiah-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/shotgun-messiah-shotgun-messiah-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Shotgun Messiah | Shotgun Messiah<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"ShotgunSwedish glam metal band Shotgun Messiah made their debut in 1989 with this self-titled release. The band, which was more or less Sweden\u2019s answer to the Hollywood hair metal scene, was originally known as Kingpin and featured vocalist Zinny Zan (formerly of Easy Action) alongside bassist Tim Skold, drummer Stixx and guitarist Harry Cody.<\/p>\n

Shotgun Messiah showed the world that the Swedish rock scene wasn\u2019t all about the more polished melodic rock of Europe and Treat. They came in hard and sleazy, and did the Hollywood sound every bit as well as bands like Jetboy, Faster Pussycat and Pretty Boy Floyd. Their songs are utterly shallow and their lyrics are completely clich\u00e9d, but that\u2019s part of what makes this album so much fun. With sleaze anthems like \u201cNowhere Fast,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Care \u2018Bout Nothin\u2019\u201d and \u201cShout it Out,\u201d this is an ideal party rock album. <\/p>\n

The guitar playing is the real surprise on the Shotgun Messiah debut. Beyond the simple, catchy hooks, Harry Cody could really light up some solos. Listening to him cut loose on the instrumental \u201cThe Explorer\u201d makes you wonder how this guy didn\u2019t end up in a power metal band. Zinny Zan\u2019s vocals are another key part of this album\u2019s sound, though not always in a good way, as his raw, screeching style tends to wear thin after a while. This ended up being Zan\u2019s only album with Shotgun Messiah. Tim Skold ended up taking over vocal duties for the band\u2019s 1991 follow-up Second Coming.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a die-hard fan of the \u201880s Hard Rock\/Glam Metal\/Hair Metal sound, especially the sleazier bands like Vain, L.A. Guns, Jetboy and the like, the Shotgun Messiah debut is a must-have album. It\u2019s also an important chapter in the Swedish hard rock history, paving the way for bands like Hardcore Superstar and Crashdiet. <\/p>\n

Edition Notes: After way too many years of being out of print (and fetching a hefty price tag from collectors) the Shotgun Messiah debut (as well as Second Coming<\/em>) has finally been reissued by Divebomb Records. Their reissue features newly remastered audio and a booklet that\u2019s loaded with band history, lyrics and vintage photos and press material. There are no bonus tracks, but just having this long out of print album back in fans\u2019 hands \u2013 and sounding better than ever \u2013 is reason to celebrate. As usual, it\u2019s limited to 1000 copies and is not available digitally.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock, Glam Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nTim Skold (b)
\nStixx (d)
\nHarry Cody (g)
\nZinny Zan (v)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tBop City
\n2.\tDon\u2019t Care \u2018Bout Nothin\u2019
\n3.\tShout it Out
\n4.\tSqueezin\u2019 Teazin\u2019
\n5.\tThe Explorer
\n6.\tNowhere Fast
\n7.\tDirt Talk
\n8.\tI\u2019m Your Love
\n9.\tNervous<\/p>\n

Label: Divebomb Records<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist — Swedish glam metal band Shotgun Messiah made their debut in 1989 with this self-titled release. The band, which was more or less Sweden\u2019s answer to the Hollywood hair […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[2317,923,1094,1103,11363,11362,11361,11360,11364],"class_list":{"0":"post-49807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-divebomb-records","10":"tag-glam-metal","11":"tag-hard-rock","12":"tag-harry-cody","13":"tag-messiah","14":"tag-shotgun","15":"tag-shotgun-messiah","16":"tag-tim-skold"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}