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The Laughing Hyenas took over the vacant throne of Detroit’s gritty musical tradition. I’m not talking about perpetual embarrassment Ted Nugent or tubby truck salesman Bob Seger. I am talking about the MC5 and the Stooges. The Hyenas were formed in the heart of underground Detroit, the Cass Corridor. Cass Corridor is a small, semi-dangerous area of the city where the underground scene lives, along with junkies and acid casualties. The Hyenas were simply the best band in the Scene Formerly Known As Alternative. They had a great reputation. They hung with Mudhoney. Nirvana opened for them at a small Ann Arbor club, The Blind Pig, when Nevermind first came out (before the Big Corporate Takeover.) This cd found them at the height of their powers.

The music of the Laughing Hyenas is muscular, bluesy punk. John Brannon, vocals, sings in a powerful, distorted rage. Imagine mixing Henry Rollins with the attitude of Jagger in the seventies and sprinkle in a foul attitude and you come close to Brannon. Larissa Strickland, guitar, was introduced to Neil Young by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon as the greatest living guitarist in America. She plays in a moody, atmospheric style. If you are looking for the fast finger twaddlings of Yngwie Malmsteen, move on-you won’t find it here. She sounds more like Neil Young than anyone. Sadly, she passed away recently. Kevin Strickland, Bass, and Jim Kimball, drums, formed the toughest rythm section I have ever witnessed. Kevin’s bass is fat and low, and Kimball beats the hell out of the drums, like he hates them. The rythm section moved on after this to the meanest band I have ever seen, Mule. That is another review. Enough history, about the album…

Everything I Want
Distorted guitar introduces a lowdown and dirty bass line, followed by torrential drums. Brannon enters like an Art School Brian Johnson, yelling:
Been down and dirty dead
Called my lover from afar
Why should I go on when
Everything seems so hard?
Today might be my last
As far as I can see
When everything I need
Everything I want
Seems so far out of reach
The song expresses the despair and rage of depression in a cathartic way. It is such a solid and tough song, it makes the current batch of teenybopper pinup punk bands (Creed, Pantera, etc…) look like the sissies they are. This is music written by people living the life they are singing about. It has a punk “wall of sound” feel to it, with wave after punishing wave of music coming at you, building and building in intensity. I could run ten miles listening to this song, and I smoke.

Hitman
The drums and bass are, well, use any tough cliche you want here. Bone crushing, face grinding and so forth. The lyrics have a gangster charm.
chorus
“Cuz I know I’m more than you can handle
leave it to me don’t even load a candle (i think)
To look at you it’s another vision
You fukk with me my finger starts a itchin’
In my sight and I’m ready to fire
I see a chump, just a bird on a wire.
You want it done, just let me know.”
and
Now I could make you suffer
If I wanted to
And then you’d wind up dead!
Tough talk, but delivered convincingly. No guitar solo here, folks. Just straight up, blind drunk and angry rock. It does sound like a song someone would listen to getting ready to pop a cap into someone else.

Outlaw
The tempo slows here, and Brannon kinda sings, taking a break from all that yelling. They remind me of the Melvins here. Slow and heavy, like stoner goth slowcore death metal. The expression of angst is pure. You feel the anger build as he sings the chorus. The song seems to be about something shady that has gone wrong. The feel is a bitterly cold Detroit night, about four in the morning.

Let It Burn and Here We Go Again
I will combine these songs and end with them, out of fear of using the same terms over and over. Both of these songs pack a punch. “Let It Burn” is a choppy, tense song boiling over with fury. “Here We Go Again” is built on a throbbing bass, and is a bitter testament to love gone wrong. Live, these songs created mayhem. They both are energetic and forceful songs. If you need to go kick some ass, put these on first.

This is a must have for those of you who like hard and serious music. I would listen to this and paint ugly, crazy paintings in acrylics to battle depression. It worked every time.

The Hyenas broke up in 96 in the midst of heavy drug rumors. It was a damn shame. I had seen them live more than any other band, and have never seen anyone equal their intensity, except for Brannon’s new band Easy Action.

Great Music to Play While: fighting your way out of enemy territory.