In 2002, L.A. Guns continued into the new millenia with Waking the Dead. While not quite as good as their most recent studio album, Tales from the Strip, it’s still a really solid piece of work that showed they were one of the 80s metal bands that were determined to continue pushing forward, instead of relying on their hits and old fan base while getting crappier with every new studio album.

More mature, and focused, but still powerful, loud and hard-charging in the L.A. Guns style, this album was well worth buying.

The first song has guitar work that sounds much like an Iron Maiden song – most unusual for the band to play with someone else’s style, but they don’t get hung up with it by trying to imitate Iron Maiden and it’s still a really hard rocking opener.

Anyone who has followed the band from their “LA sleaze” days has seen them mature, and their songs become more introspective and sometimes even critical, but if any song they’ve recorded shows how far they’ve changed and grown, it is “Ok, Let's Roll”, the second song on the album. As the title suggests, it’s a song of post-9/11 reflection which tells the tale of Flight 93, paying tribute to their courageous stand:

United Airlines Flight 93
Left 8:01 from Gate 17
Victims of a war they never knew existed
Hell looked them in the eye
And still they resisted

Lost brave souls your courage we remember
Sacrificed young lives last September
We still hear your battle cry
Are you ready, okay, let's roll