I really, really hate to have to do this...

I’m a great fan of Bobby Blitz in Overkill, and has been since their album Taking Over (’85), and I think he has one of the coolest and specific voices in the harder end of metal. So of course I was happy and my expectations was sky high, when I heard that he made an album in a side project to Overkill with long time friend, guitarist Dan Lorenzo of Hades… and what a let-down I was in for!!

Maybe my expectations were too high, and don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad album, but it just doesn’t “f**kin’ rock” like I had hoped for.

It is the concrete-heavy stoner-like metal/heavy rock music I hoped for, in the vein of C.O.C. (in sound and overall style pretty close to it actually), and in some places a little like (older) Black Sabbath or the slower Overkill. And Bobby’s vocal is very recognizable, although this is not quite the same as he does in Overkill.

But somehow I’m just left with the feeling, that this is a “left hand job” from these guys, the real nerve and conviction is somehow missing. After listening to the whole album, just a few numbers and riffs stand out in my memory, the rest blends in to a mash of very low and heavy guitar (somewhere with bluesy inspiration) and very straight forward bass and drums, that is just chugging ahead – and Bobby’s special voice and phrasing just isn’t enough to make it really interesting.

They play very solid, like experienced musicians is supposed to be able to, no doubt about that…but there’s very little variation in each track, it sort of goes in the same line all the way through. They even put a saxophone in on two tracks, and one track is mainly quite swing-jazzy, but that is as ambitious as they get – I had hoped for a more experimental attitude, or at least some more memorable songs with a bit more variation in the composing.

The sound is technically okay, somewhat raw (probably on purpose), a bit like from a practice room, and it fits the style well I guess, but it doesn’t really kick ass (or help the music to do so).

Not a bad album, but not really good either – I’m disappointed…

Maybe they’ll make it next time (if there is a next time), to make an album that rock, now that they’ve become a bit more familiar with the stoner-style… They have to be able to deliver something more interesting and alive than this.