Prayers for the Damned

Personnel: James Michael (vocals, keyboards, programming); DJ Ashba (guitar); Dustin Steinke (drums); Melissa Harding, Amber Vanbuskirk (background vocals).Audio Mixer: James Michael.Recording information: Ashbaland Studios, Las Vegas, NV; Red Level Three Studios, Los Angeles, CA.Sixx: A.M. lightened their load on Modern Vintage, a 2014 album where they spruced up their Sunset Strip sleaze with a bit of vintage glam swagger. The very title of Prayers for the Damned -- the first part of a purported double-album project; the second segment is scheduled for some time later in 2016 -- suggests a return to darkness and, sure enough, the album delivers upon that promise. Hard and heavy, Prayers for the Damned doesn't truck with good times: it's all sturm and drang, tempered by existential protest and calls for all the alienated to rise. These rallying cries ultimately produce a diametrically different effect than The Heroin Diaries, the insular autobiography that kicked off Sixx: A.M.'s care