Lizzy Borden has always been one of those hit-or-miss bands, staging live performances to rival Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson but releasing often less-than-memorable albums over the course of almost 25 years. On Appointment With Death, the band picks up where it left off nearly 20 years ago with the impressive Master of Disguise and serves up a concept album of sorts in which all 11 songs are in one way or another about death: "The Death of Love." "Tomorrow Never Comes." "Live Forever." "Perfect World (I Don't Wanna Live)." "The Darker Side."
Vocalist Lizzy Borden and his trio of madmen are joined by such revered guests of the Eighties as guitarists George Lynch (Dokken) and Dave Meniketti (Y&T) and keyboardist Michael T. Ross (Hardline). With a lineup like that, Appointment With Death is bound to sound at least slightly dated, but that's what makes this epic album which could have been lyrically grotesque or over-the-top tacky sound, well, so alive. And with additional assistance from Trivium guitarist Corey Beaulieu and mixer Eric Rutan (Hate Eternal), Borden walks the modern-metal edge. Searing guitar solos, gang vocals and dramatic imagery abound, and his voice is in fine form, certainly rivaling if not bettering many of his Eighties rock-god peers.
Appointment With Death also boasts some seriously sexy and, frankly, disturbing cover art and inside imagery, and it proves that some bands that started out sounding pretty god-awful (remember Love You to Pieces?) can eventually turn things around.
Track Listing:
1) Abnormal
2) Appointment With Death
3) Live Forever
4) Bloody Tears
5) The Death of Love
6) Tomorrow Never Comes
7) Under Your Skin
8) Perfect World (I Don't Wanna Live)
9) Something's Crawlin'
10) (We Are) The Only Ones
11) The Darker Side
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