Dynamite from Nightmareland

When Nirvana and Pearl Jam were burning up the charts in 1992, you knew that the 1980s were officially dead and gone. But back in 1990, the 1990s still felt like the 1980s, and pop-metal hair bands were all over MTV. Major labels were still looking for the next Guns N' Roses or the next Motley Crue, including MCA--which signed an abundance of pop-metal and hard rock bands in the late 1980s and early 1990s. One of them was Kill for Thrills, whose debut album, Dynamite From Nightmareland, could be described as Guns N' Roses meets Bon Jovi meets L.A. Guns. Kill for Thrills isn't in a class with any of those bands, and its derivative songs aren't terribly original. Nonetheless, this isn't a bad album. Although not mind-blowing, some of the material is catchy--especially "My Addiction" and "Motorcycle Cowboys". And even though Kill for Thrills isn't the least bit groundbreaking, this 1990 release tends to sound a bit more sincere than a lot of the pop-metal/hard rock that MCA was putting out at the time. Unfortunately for Kill for Thrills, MCA had a very haphazard approach to marketing metal in 1990--the idea was to sign a ton of bands, throw them against the wall and see if they would stick. The label had no real commitment to artist development, which is why so many of the headbangers that MCA signed ended up being dropped. Kill for Thrills was no exception, and Dynamite From Nightmareland turned out to be its only full-length album. ~ Alex Henderson|