With all the sleaze, sneers, and headbanging, Finnish rock band Shiraz Lane resurrected that debauched Los Angeles sound while also paying homage to darker '90s influences like Alice in Chains. The group was formed in 2011 in Vantaa by vocalist Hannes Kett and drummer Ana Willman, later adding guitarists Miki Kalske and Jani Laine, as well as bassist Joel Alex. Their blazing riffs and soaring vocals immediately brought to mind classic hair metal bands of the '80s, like Skid Row and Guns 'N Roses. In 2014, they won the Hard Rock Rising competition in Helsinki, which secured them a gig at the Hard Rock Cafe in Toronto, the young band's first foray outside of the U.S. Buoyed by increasing exposure, they released their debut single "Out There Somewhere" b/w "Money Talks" later that year. Those songs would later appear on their first EP, Be the Slave or Be the Change, a five-song set that dropped in the spring of 2015. After signing with Frontier Records, they began work on their first LP with producer Ben Varon. For Crying Out Loud was released in April 2016 and included first single "House of Cards." ~ Neil Z. Yeung