Wayne Kramer
"Dangerous Madness" CD (Epitaph)
Comparing "The Hard Stuff" to "Dangerous Madness" is a bit like debating the virtues of Roman Candles versus a battery of surface-to-air missiles. They're both explosive, but the damage done is on an entirely different level. "Dangerous Madness" is an ICBM of a record, laden with nuclear cargo and a gonzo guitarorrist riding it down to Ground Zero. When it hits, suddenly everything appears in outline form, silhouetted against the landed white sun. Everything is clear for a moment, crystalline and perfectly defined by billions of megawatts of blinding white light. Then the eyeballs melt, the shock wave hits, and everything else gets blown to shit and flinders. Ashen people, looking like they've just been a ghost. Splinters and fragments of lives, melted into new shapes. But here's the kicker - the lies are gone. All the mindless bullshit has been erased and it's possible to start over in the clear, pale light of a musical annihilation. What a great fucking record.