Michael Monroe is one of those euro acts who I pretty much accepted I’d never see live unless I made a trip across the pond. A plethora of interviews the legendary Hanoi Rocks frontman gave in the late ’10s essentially confirmed this. And then, last year, something incredible happened. Michael Monroe toured the States! Neither myself nor my fellow American maniac hard rockers saw this one coming, so we jumped at the opportunity. I was lucky enough to catch the Arcada Theatre stop of the tour in St. Charles, Illinois, and needless to say, it was a night to remember. Monroe and his band treated us to a setlist of solo staples, Demolition 23 deep cuts, and Hanoi Rocks hits.
A second leg of the States was set to follow in late ’25 as support for everyone’s favorite Y2K Aerosmith wannabes, Buckcherry, but was dashed due to knee surgery. Sure, Monroe could’ve gone the Ozzy route and gone out in a chair. No doubt about it, even chairbound, he’d still be more charismatic than most frontmen. However, if you’ve ever been to a Michael Monroe show, you’d know this would go against the man’s very nature, as he lives for running all over the stage and beyond. Now he has a new excuse to do exactly that in the States again, as he’s just released a brand new studio album entitled Outerstellar.
Sonically speaking, Monroe’s solo output is the closest there is to a continuation of Hanoi Rocks, and Outerstellar is another fine addition to said canon. It seamlessly fuses sleazy hard rock, trashy glam punk, and feelgood power pop, all with Monroe’s signature singer-songwriter twist. He’s a unique character, in this regard, occupying the same mascara-eyed troubadour territory as Blackie Lawless or John Corabi. Sure, these tunes rock hard, but they also boast the kind of witty lyricism and vulnerable glimpses at life that one would expect from some sap with an acoustic guitar at a coffee bar, not a rock god in red leather and a face-full of makeup.
Brash outbursts like “Rockin’ Horse”, “Newtro Bombs”, and “Disconnected” scream classic Hanoi Rocks, balancing glammy theatrics with punk rock attitude, direct from the gutters of Finland. Contrasting these rowdy, jump-along blasts of audio anarchy are those aforementioned sing-along singer-songwriter moments like “Shinola” and “When the Apocalypse Comes”, on which Corabi channels his inner Cheap Trick influence with a fucked up Scandi twist. It’s a combo that shouldn’t work, and wouldn’t from any other artist, but from Mr. Monroe, we’d expect nothing less.
Although this is the first Monroe album in recent memory on which the songs on the back half don’t pack the same punch as those up front, even these “lesser” cuts rock harder than most of what passes off as hard rock in 2026. And while a song like the closing “One More Sunrise” probably could’ve been 4 or 5 minutes long, when absorbed in its full 8 minute glory, it makes sense, just as Outerstellar as a whole makes sense. Just as the album title implies, Michael Monroe is out of this world, and we’re better off for it. Bangkok shock, Saigon shakes, and Michael Monroe rocks.
8 out of 10
Label: Silver Lining Music
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Hanoi Rocks, Cheap Trick, The Wildhearts
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