Electric
There's literally been millions of bands copping the AC/DC sound over the past 3 decades but no band does it better than Broken Teeth! This Austin, TX based group features the incredible vocal talents of Jason McMaster (Watchtower, Dangerous Toys) backed by duel guitarists Jared Tutin and David Beeson, bassist Brett McCormick and drummer Bruce Rivers. Electric (the band admits the album was titled honoring The Cult album of the same name) is the band's 4th independently released CD and features 12 southern-fueled, gut-wrenching kick-ass metal tunes. Combining the blues-based Aussie power of AC/DC, Rose Tattoo and The Starfighters (okay, so they may have been from the UK...) with the pure raw-energy of Canadian rocker Danko Jones and Nashville Pussy, Broken Teeth are no-frills, stripped to the bone raunch and roll! From the opening siren on "Roll Over" this CD is guaranteed to have you bangin' your head continuously for the next 40 minutes. Even the fact that the AC/DC chops on this CD seem intentionally obvious (I could have sworn the opening chords of "Blood On The Radio" was leading into "Let There Be Rock") you'll excuse the band for they write material far better than AC/DC has written in the last decade. Broken Teeth are relentless, never letting up, keeping the momentum barreling down the runway with "Hell For Sale" (ironically, I still have the deed Dangerous Toys sent out in promoting their Hellacious Acres record honoring me one square-foot ownership of Hell, TX), "Bonfire" (another obvious tribute), "Stick It In," and the rip-roaring "She's Gonna Blow" which again shows the band aren't just "Beatin' Around the Bush!" AC/DC may have written the book, but Broken Teeth illustrates it with Electric! This record is the textbook for Rock'n'Roll 101.
ROBOT LORDS OF TOKYO
Robot Lords Of Tokyo
The Robot Lords are a very cool Ohio-based trio. This self-titled and self-released CD features 4 original hard-driving rock anthems, two 45-second guitar instrumentals and three well-crafted cover-tunes which include a great rendition of UFO's "Mother Mary," Motley Crue's "Knock 'Em Dead Kid" and Motorhead's "Iron Fist." Vocalist Paul Jones has an amazingly powerful metal voice (although he does tend to over-do the cookie-monster thing on the Motorhead and Crue covers). The musicianship, which features guitarist Brad Stemple and drummer Rick Ritzler along with session bassist/producer Joe Viers and session guitarist Steve Theado (who adds a scorching lead on the opening track "Belly Full Of Greed"), is top-notch and the songs are a powerful blend of classic power-metal and modern hard rock. Songs like "Belly Full of Greed" and "Off to War" proves that this band is more than capable of writing great original material, but quite honestly the tracks "Numb" and "Sweet Vengeance" lack in the originality department leaning too much toward that Alice In Chains/Godsmack sound. Nonetheless, a solid debut performance definitely worth checking out. Hopefully on their follow-up CD we'll see more songwriting from the Robot Lords.
Shockwaves CD REVIEWS ISSUE 14 Page 6