Blank Guns

As a band, local rising metal outfit L.A. Guns, which played Friday at the Palace, is admirably tight, very noisy and rather punchy.

But as a show, these guys are a bust: all of the grunge-metal cliches but none of the heat. Volume often replaced intensity--a syndrome well-known to arena-show vets but which should not be a part of a Palace gig--and a vague air of flaccid, show-biz calculation crept over the proceedings after “Hollywood Tease,” the set’s second tune. Despite fun versions of “Sex Action” and “The Bitch Is Back,” it was all descent from there. Though oft-recumbent bassist Kelly Nickels is a real thunder-fingers and drummer Steve Riley mashed away with gusto, lead guitarist Tracii Guns’ solos became symbols for repetition and singer Philip Lewis’ monochromatic howling merely annoyed.