Firebird - Hot Wings

Pity that this band broke up last year, seeing as I just now found out about them.Good bar bands are hard to find, but when you do it's every bit as rewarding as the experience can offer in terms of simple, raucous entertainment. The formula's remained unchanged for decades, usually sitting somewhere in the blues rock portion of the spectrum accompanied by whiskey-soaked vocals, stomping beats, and enough swagger to give Mick Jagger an inferiority complex. Founder, guitarist/vocalist, Bill Steer is better known for his metal work with Carcass and Napalm Death, but moved to Australia in the latter part of the 90s and developed a love for 70s style blues rock, forming Firebird in 1999.

Sadly, this British blues-rock trio has recently called it a day, but we're left with this re-release of their 2006 album, Hot Wings. And they do a fine job of just plain rocking out with the Led Zeppelin tribute Misty Morning, the ZZ Top flavored Play The Fool, the Mountainesque Horse Drawn Man and a host of other classic-sounding tunes.

The Bottom Line: It's always interesting when artists follow their passions and take risks with music that's totally in a different direction.  Win or lose, you have to respect their conviction. In this case, you have to be impressed by Steer's vision of such a band before the whole retro craze really blew up.

Tracks to Light A Cigarette And Down A Shot To: Good Times, Horse Drawn Man, I Wish You Well, Needle in the Groove 

- Genghis really started to dig this album by the end...

Downspirit - Bulletproof?

Okay, so it has the de riguer Roxette cover, but these Germans can rock, man.It's kind of cool to know that American metal has been around long enough to influence the influencers. In the case of Downspirit, you get a band from Germany that has all of the earmarks of a band working the Sunset Strip, by way of the South. Imagine the homegrown rebel sound of Hellyeah crossed with the melodic, AOR savvy of Bon Jovi and you get a sense of the heavy, groove-laden tunes this band puts out.

Bulletproof?, their second album in as many years, continues the path of their debut, Point of Origin, demonstrating a good sense of balance between high energy rhythyms and catchy choruses, and capped off with a thick layer of rock-n-roll attitude. It's not a new formula, but when it's done well, it's hard to complain about the result.

The Bottom Line: Hard work on the touring circuit and dedication to a simple, clear musical vision should always pay off if you have the talent. Luckily for Downspirit they've got just that. And as good as this version is, let's all just agree to stop doing Roxette covers, cool?

Tunes to Listen to While Shopping for Leather Pants: Greed, Get the F**k Up, and The Look

- Genghis wonders when the hell Roxette got so popular...

Happy Thanksgiving from The Right To Rock!

No matter where you are or what your situation is (and it can be pretty rough in this world), we're still pretty sure that everyone's got something going for them to be thankful about. So, whatever that is for you, The Lads here at The Right To Rock just want to say, we are genuinely glad for it.

So, as we celebrate those things today here in America, Genghis & Ragman - and all the crazy people here at TRTR - raise our glasses, and wish our fans a sincere, hearty

HORNS UP!

- Genghis is strongly considering another slice of that pumpkin cheesecake...

In Alcatraz 1962 - The Drive

Them boys from up yonder in Virginny sure can rock that heavy metal, boss. Yessir. *spit*Formed out of Northern Virginia a few years ago, and featuring a sound honed by relentless touring, In Alcatraz 1962 is a band that should do well on any modern metal tour (Vans Warped, Jaegermeister, et al).  Their aggression is matched deftly with the tightness you'd expect from a group of serious-minded headbangers in songs that are aspirational as well as resigned - which I like, quite frankly. I'm a little tired of the whole nihilistic spirit that pervades most metal. Yeah, it's metal so we don't want to sound like a bunch of pussies, but if life's so damned tedious and depressing in its supposed meaninglessness, why even bother trying to make a living as an artist at all rather than just eating a gun? I mean, come on. Show a little backbone, will ya?

Luckily, the boys in In Alcatraz 1962, having eschewed that familiar rhetoric, can draw on their many influences to make some rocking energetic tunes on this debut about committment and The Drive to succeed. (America, fuck yeah!)

I dig the production on this album, courtesy of Don DeBiase at Studio D Productions (Modern Day Escape, Along Came A Spider, Vanilla Ice). This is a common complaint I have against inaugural releases from most metal bands trying to capture their road-honed sound with a new producer and what is likely their first time in a real studio. I think the band's years of live experience has clearly had a positive effect on their sound and I would love to catch them here in Houston some time. You might wanna do the same in your town.

Tracks That Make You Want to Plan Your Next Live Show: The Fatal Flaw, Over These Years, Winter Sun

The Bottom Line: Good old-fashioned American metal from a band that's earned their sound and a chance at a profitable career through hard work and committment. How's that for an American success story?

- Genghis is *this* close to moshing around the office...

A Whisper In The Noise - To Forget

This Minneapolis-based alt rock duo sound more like they should be from Washington, circa 1990...Art rock implies a lot of things that are kind of antithetical to most heavy metal bands, leaving out the more progressive of the lot. But it's not all bad haircuts and self-loathing nihilism.

Of course, I say this as the guy that mostly ignores lyrics in favor of the musical vibe at hand; and that natural inclination is probably bolstered by my recent reading of Daniel J. Levitin's This Is Your Brain On Music (check it out, it's brilliant). And in the case of A Whisper In The Noise (AWITN), they actually make it pretty easy to ignore the lyrics with their ethereal crooning so heavily processed; it's like the soundtrack to a seance.

On the plus side though is the music itself. While nothing at all like the heavier stuff I tend to listen to, AWITN makes some very compelling and moody music. The beats sometimes remind me of Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks soundtrack work in their dreamy, haunted retro-hipness.

The Bottom Line: Imagine the setting of a Stephen King novel with its tarnished nostalgia against the backdrop of a forgotten, cold, and windy Northeastern town; a once beautiful and familiar sight now mired in fear and regret. This is the soundtrack.

Tracks to Make You Cry for Laura Palmer: Black Shroud, Mayas Song, Your Hand

- Genghis is trying to remember some really good ghost stories now...