This band just get better and better.
George Dolivo's distinctive vocals snake through the dry, shimmering guitar driven heat, stoked up by ex Kix man Bryan Forsyth's tautly economic riffs and the rhythms section's metronomic, bass heavy beat.
Same old same old. Tried and tested. Trusted and true.
If anything, the songwriting has improved, album by album, since Forsyth joined the band back in 2001.
'Who's Got Mine' stitches together a bunch of tough, leathery tunes, shaped to fit the band's blue collar lyrical aesthetic, weaving through shifting layers of melody, embellished by carefully weighted lead guitar work, usually culminating in a refreshingly compact chorus.
The first three tracks - '
Message In My Bottle', '
Lifetime' and '
Back To Nowhere' are among the best (and most accessible) the band have written. Raw, passionate, driving, memorably melodic. Songs with humour, pathos and a satisfying lyrical payoff. "I'm going back to nowhere, I hope they take me in".
That said, there's barely a dip across these 11 tracks. A cool, industry minimum 38 minute blast of sandblasted melodic rock, with the band's Oz influences showing their big, bold, schoolboy face on the hard rockin'
'Chase The Case', and
'Hollywood And Wine' providing an altogether more adult resonance.
Their best yet, no danger.
Style: Hard Rock
Rating: 8.5/10Posted by
Brian - Sunday, March 13, 2011
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