Though former Runaways guitarist Lita Ford has been absent from the recording industry since 1997, she hasn't exactly been idle. After releasing Kiss Me Deadly, her final album after a string of them in the '80s and '90s, the music scene – and the industry with it – changed, and alternative ruled the airwaves. Ford got married to Jim Gillette, former vocalist with hair metal rockers Nitro, and started a family. In addition, she relocated to the Caribbean. Wicked Wonderland is uncharacteristic of the pop-metal she released a decade ago. It's an in-your-face metal record, but ultimately it's a very studied and calculated 21st century pop-metal record.

One of the brighter debuts to emerge in the late '80s, Britny Fox established themselves early on as hard-hitting contenders, only to expose a glass jaw in subsequent bouts. Often labeled clones of sister band Cinderella (whence they got their image, guitar player, and record contract), the quartet overcame expectations by filling their first album with song after song of top-flight '80s glam, marred only slightly by the cliché-ridden lyrics. The boys each play to their strengths here, which results in killer riffs and licks from Michael Kelly Smith and impassioned howling from Dizzy Dean Davidson. On later platters, they would overextend their talents and become just another struggling bar band, so enjoy the chemistry while it's still there. Among the many highlights are "Long Way to Love," "Girlschool," and a cover of Slade's "Gudbuy t'Jane."

Yngwie Malmsteen's second best album after Rising Force, Trilogy finds him delving wholeheartedly into fantastic, medieval themes and lyrical imagery. Yngwie's compositional skills are at their peak, and of all his albums, the lyrics here contribute the most to the overall feel of the music. The guitar solos, as always, are jaw-droppingly fast and technically demanding, but Malmsteen is still capable of playing them with force and fire behind them. Highlights include "Dark Ages," "You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget," and the epic "Trilogy Suite Op:5."

Hanoi Rocks was a Finnish rock band formed in 1979. They were the first Finnish band to chart in the UK and they were also popular in Japan. The band broke up in June 1985 after the drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley had died in a car accident during their first US tour in December 1984. Original vocalist Michael Monroe and guitarist Andy McCoy reunited in 2001 with a new line-up of Hanoi Rocks until 2009. Although musically closer to traditional rock n' roll and punk, Hanoi Rocks have been cited as a major influence in the glam metal genre for bands such as Guns N' Roses, Skid Row and Poison…

39 tracks from Def Leppard's X, YEAH! and Songs From The Sparkle Lounge album eras will be released as part of a digital box set in June.

On June 11, KISS will launch their new official live bootleg series, KISS – Off The Soundboard, with Tokyo 2001, recorded by the band at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on March 13, 2001.

Poison's Greatest Hits 1986-1996 is as definitive as a Poison compilation could hope to be. Featuring a full 18 tracks, including all of their Top 50 hits ("Talk Dirty to Me," "I Want Action," "Nothin' but a Good Time," "Fallen Angel," "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," "Your Mama Don't Dance," "Unskinny Bop," "Something to Belive In," "Stand," among others) plus two unreleased cuts ("Sexual Thing," "Lay Your Body Down"), the album boasts every worthwhile song the group ever recorded, augmented by Bret Michaels' track-by-track commentary. Though the album isn't sequenced in chronological order, it plays like an excellent mixtape, which actually makes the album more listenable. Even on a compilation, Poison wears a little thin – there are still dull moments among these 18 songs, mainly in the form of lesser-known album tracks and singles – but still, Greatest Hits 1986-1996 is the most enteraining album the band ever released.

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948)[1] is an American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spans over 50 years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock"…

Carnival of Sins: Live is a 2-CD live album by Mötley Crüe. It was released in 2006 on Mötley Records. The album features the Grand Rapids, Michigan performance from the band's 2005-2006 Carnival of Sins tour…

Condition Critical, Quiet Riot's follow-up to their number one, multi-million-selling commercial breakthrough Metal Health, is nearly identical to its predecessor. Not only do they repeat the hard-driving pop-metal hybrid to the last detail, they even throw in another Slade cover. Like on Metal Health, the Slade cover on Condition Critical ("Mama Weer All Crazee Now") is the finest moment on the record – it's the only time the riffs have a solid hook and the melody is memorable. However, the rest of the record is well produced and sounds good, even if the quality of the songs is somewhat poor.

Having done a remaster with panache on Sunburst Finish from 1976 (and reviewed so eloquently by Ian Canty here) Cherry Red (or Cheery Red as my computer often prompts) are back on the Be Bop Deluxe trail with Be Bop Deluxe’s legendary 1975 album released on the (legendary, naturally) Harvest label. Legendary maybe because we tend to look back with a rose-tinted glow at a set recorded with the legendary Roy Thomas Baker at the legendary Rockfield Studios by Bill Nelson and his troops…

Lick It Up is the 11th studio album by American band Kiss. On the day of its 1983 release, the band members appeared on MTV without their trademark make-up. It was the first public appearance without make-up by Kiss since their very early days. Lick It Up built upon the harder sound Kiss had displayed on 1982's Creatures of the Night. But while Creatures of the Night was a commercial disappointment for Kiss, Lick It Up sold much better. It was certified gold on December 22, 1983, the first Kiss album to achieve certification since 1980's Unmasked. This is partially attributable to the increased publicity the band received after their unmasking.

Volume two of Hip-O's Mötley Crüe retrospective, Music to Crash Your Car To, is decidedly less impressive than its predecessor. That's not to say that the poster, essay-augmented booklet, demos, alternate mixes, unreleased track, and comic book aren't reasons enough for the average fan to run to the store…

Heart Attack is the tenth studio album by the Swiss hard rock band Krokus, and is described by the band as "the last attempt to keep the band together in a deep crisis". As well as being the band's first album on MCA Records, it saw the return of original Krokus founding member Chris von Rohr. The track "Rock 'n' Roll Tonight" was a live hit, and is still played by the band in concerts. Krokus is a hard rock and heavy metal band from Switzerland. They enjoyed great success in North America during the 1980s. Krokus was founded in Solothurn in 1975 by bassist (and original lead vocalist) Chris von Rohr and guitarist Tommy Kiefer. Former TEA vocalist Marc Storace joined the band as frontman in time for their Metal Rendez-vous album in 1979.