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.