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BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION
Here Come The Brides

Sanctuary (2004)
Rating: 9.5/10

Although Here Come The Brides sold 13,000 copies in its first week of release in 2004, this cult offering did little to dent the heavy metal market, despite the fact it remains one of my favourite metal albums of all time. Brides Of Destruction were formed in 2002 – originally under the moniker of Cockstar – by Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, and features the talents of L.A. Guns founder Tracii Guns.

As debut albums go this is a riotous affair that blends a heavy sleaze style of rock ’n’ roll, as one would expect, with a punky, garage style groove, made all the more raw by the vocal rasp of London LeGrande – although drummer Scot Coogan lends his pipes to the rousing ‘Life’.

When Nikki Sixx first formed the band, there were rumours that rock stars ranging from Slash (Velvet Revolver / ex-Guns N’ Roses / ex-Slash’s Snakespit), DJ Ashba (Guns N’ Roses / Sixx:A.M. / ex-Beautiful Creatures / ex-BulletBoys) and John Corabi (ex-Mötley Crüe) were in on the project, yet none of these materialised, but that doesn’t prevent Here Come The Brides from being a superb record; an opus that sits nicely alongside Beautiful Creatures’ self-titled debut as one of those majestic yet gloriously rebellious and real metal albums.

Opener ‘Shut The Fuck Up’ is a frenzied affair, although LeGrande at times can appear too fragile in the mix, but the band’s songwriting ability is plain to see, as all of these cuts are far too oily to appear on any modern Mötley Crüe record.

‘Natural Born Killers’ and ‘Brace Yourself’ are in-your-face rockers, while ‘Only Get So Far’ is a heartbreaking ballad in complete contradiction to the grunge-laced ‘I Got A Gun’ and punkoid ‘I Don’t Care’.

Nine songs were clearly not enough, but in a sense the short running time gives the record a compact and concise feel. Nothing drags, meaning that Here Come The Brides is a short, sharp and sweet shock to the system. It’s just a huge shame that Nikki Sixx left the band soon after the album’s release, leaving the rest to produce the below par follow-up Runaway Brides (2005).

Neil Arnold

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