Simon Rushworth
The season of releasing may be over as far as the record companies are concerned but we’re still giving you more of the reviews and ratings you want – right up until Christmas! This week we check out EPs from Frank Turner and Jettblack and deliver our verdict on The New Czars.
Frank Turner – Rock & Roll (Xtra Mile)
The most prolific singer songwriter in rock returns with his own Yuletide gift for devoted fans and this neat little finale to a fabulous 2010 ticks all the right boxes.
Whether playing on his ability to be the underground Train or hitting top form on Pass It Along – his tribute to fellow one-man folk rock performers – the versatile Mr Turner doesn’t do ‘bad tunes’.
Reprising his Million Dead days on the magnificent To Absent Friends this is a fine snapshot of an individual equally at ease on the stadium stage as he is serenading a handful of die-hards on a dingy basement club.
Turner is a hero of the new music generation and a thoroughly nice chap to boot. We sincerely hope this perfect piece of work earns him the cash to enjoy a deserved Christmas break.
rushonrock rated: 8/10 Rock On
Jettblack – Slip It On (Spinefarm)
If you caught this lot at Hard Rock Hell or in their role as warm-up on the recent Enuff Z’Nuff UK tour then you don’t need telling just how exciting Jettblack really are. Fusing sleaze rock attitude with hair metal sheen and with a major label deal to boot the world is at their feet – and don’t they know it?
Cocky they may be but for good reason. This tight as spandex quartet have a happy knack of penning raucous hard rock tunes guaranteed to get fans of 80s excess jumping with wild unbridled joy. Jettblack love singing about women and partying and they wear their obvious influences on their sleeves – check out the ludicrously addictive cover of Dangerzone. Yes, that Dangerzone, as featured on iconic 80s flick Top Gun.
The title track and Chasing Love are typical Jettblack fare but prepare to be surprised by the acoustic lure of The Sweet And The Brave. This band do have layers of emotion, however shallow.
rushonrock rated: 7/10 Jett Fueled
The New Czars – Doomsday Revolution (Samson Records)
Like the unwanted woolly socks you receive annually from your great aunt every Christmas this horrific package is a brutal disappointment. And like the socks, the sooner this album finds its way onto the charity store shelf the better.
On paper it sounds promising – the new face of multi-talented muso/producer Greg Hampton, The New Czars boast the pedigree to deliver. But on CD this sounds like s**t. And regular readers of this reviews section know we don’t dish out such criticism lightly.
How Hampton, the producer behind Alice Cooper’s Along Came A Spider and Lita Ford’s Wicked Wonderland, can have dropped such a proverbial b*****k is anyone’s guess but this post-grunge, part progressive metal mix-up is a miserable effort. It really, really is.
Searching for a positive we chanced upon the softer, ballady Only Dreaming but we really were. Up next was the woeful Tell Me and that shocker of a track is the rule, rather than the exception, of a frankly dire affair. Waking up with a jolt, the sense of harsh reality was sickening.
Enough to shake your faith in rock and metal. But there’s a reason this has been rushed out at the end of the year – it’s an album destined to disappear without trace under the sheer weight of an otherwise inspiring raft of 2010 releases.
rushonrock rated: 2/10 Doom And Gloom