Slaughter & The Dogs - Beware Of...
(TKO)OK, not exactly a metal band, Slaughter & The Dogs nevertheless have a place in charged-up guitar rock, having been one of the first punk bands ever back in jolly ol' England, wielding their semi-hit Cranked Up Really High. Plus later on, in '80, they made a clean punk record called Bite Back (billed as Slaughter), which leaned well into the metal of the time. Well, now they've bitten back after 20 years away, creating a bar-room raucous that sorta sounds punk, sorta sounds like loud garage rock, thankfully sounds totally English and authentically pint-faced. No awards for originality here (and there's no way it could ever feel like '77 again), Slaughter is just Slaughter, playing simple riff rockers that I'm sure sound killer live. Also contains a punk cover of Hard Day's Night as well as the band's I Wanna Be Your Dog-faced Hell In New York. CD is enhanced with video. Go to www.mordamrecords.com for more info.
Rating 5.5Roadsaw - Rawk n' Roll
(Luna)Well, in stoner rock, there's the Kyuss-derived with bad songs (usually from England, although increasingly American-bred), then there's the Kyuss-derived with good songs. Roadsaw fit the latter camp, and for their efforts, have been quite well-regarded by those at pains to try distinguish between 31 varieties of the same good flavour. Things start steady and sure, then swing bad with Scorpion Bowl, and then even better than the first three with the Clearlight Hammond of Foot. The rest... pretty adventuresome. Production? Well, you get that big buzzing guitar and a regular phat rhythm section sound. Sort of like a slightly cleaner Kyuss, but then that band name is never far from your thoughts, given Craig Riggs' Garcia-like vocals. Better than average songs though, which all live or die on the riff, well, to be honest, the speed. And they look pretty cool too. But man, I just wish some of the smarter guys doing this would break out and experiment a little. Damn, Sabbath did, and I thought that's what this was all about.
Rating 7
