If you thought that I would have learned my lesson from the bait and switch of Hair of the Dog, you might be wrong.

Expect No Mercy features an even more badass cover than its predecessor: a shining knight and a scimitar-wielding demon are engaged in an epic battle of good and evil. What are they fighting for? What are the stakes?

Apparently, the real battle is between heavy metal and blues rock: and blues rock is winning.

The record starts out promisingly enough. “Expect No Mercy” is a full-speed-ahead hard rocker, filled with lightening riffs and machine gun drums, and Dan McCafferty’s wailing cry warning that quarter will be given. But after it fades to the schlocky “Gone Dead Train,” there’s no going back.

I think that “Mercy” here would mean offering an album as badass as the cover. If that’s the case, the title is apt: no mercy is given. This is album is closer to a bad Lynyrd Skynyrd ripoff than anything claiming to be even “hard rock.” When a song called “Kentucky Fried Blues” has some of the heaviest riffs on the record, you know there’s a problem.

While Hair of the Dog wasn’t nearly as heavy or epic as advertised, there was no lack of catchy riffs or blistering solos. Expect No Mercy is lacking there. The title track is promising, but everything else is forgettable at best. “All the King’s Horses” is a pretty decent blues rock song, but that’s as good as it gets here. Some of the songs are even plain bad.

Outside of the opener, nothing here invites me to repeat listens. In fact, I’m a little relieved that my B-side has a few skips, because that means I’m through it quicker. I’m decently sure that I got this album for free, and I’m glad for it. The cover is great and the opener is a banger. Other than that, this album is pretty worthless.