Reviews: Stevie R. Pearce, Utopia, Brian Setzer, Steel Rhino (Reviews By Simon Black & Matt Bladen)

Stevie R. Pearce And The Hooligans - Major League Son Of A Bitch (Heavy Rocka/Cargo Records) [Simon Black]

This is the sophomore album from this British Hard Rocker’s latest project. Although I’m not too familiar with his back catalogue, Mr Pearce has certainly earned his chops with the likes of Black Bullets, Enuff ’Z’ Nuff, Love/Hate and err, Warrior Soul. Once you’ve wrapped your head around that slightly eclectic list, the key thing to note is that he’s a really experienced player who really knows how a good Hard Rock tune should (and indeed should not) sound.

This is high octane stuff, with a contained yet powerfully deep thundering delivery and a highly infectious Hard Rock groove. Ball-busting opener Rip It Out sets the tone from the get go, with a strong riff, plenty of attitude and a crackingly well-built instrumental break, with a building drum beat that feels like it might not stop. The temp goes up a notch with the belter I’m On Fire, which despite its generally faster tone takes a subtle slower moment in the opening bars of the instrumental break, with a catchy little hammer riff before hammering the finish home. These sort of three minute wham-bam-thank-you-man’s work best for this band, as Pearce and gang take the best touches from his considerable Glam/Sleaze background but retaining a more modern and adult temperament than so much of that genre is responsible for. 

The tempo changes work well and highlight that song writing maturity. Equally solos are kept focused and riff driven, rather than just the attitude or any unnecessary showiness - despite the clearly visible skill of the playing, proving that restraint wins out over flashiness any day. That slower pace and maturity are more visible at the back end of the record with the pace coming down a notch or two, and some more experimental melodies and rhythms coming into play, and the variety on here make an interesting and refreshing change from the high tempo material, although sometimes that experimentation falls flat, such as the frankly bizarre Fleshwound.

Thirteen tracks in forty-five minutes means shows a focus on delivering a punch and not outstaying your welcome. The tracks may mainly be shorter, but they are the sharp and well-crafted product of an experienced group of players who know exactly how this style of music works. When they do take a little longer, the results are all the stronger for it, with the acoustic opening to ballad If I Were Blind in particular showing some real depth and the kind of track that absolutely could work on mainstream radio. This is top drawer Hard Rock from a band who know their stuff. 7/10

Utopia - Stalker (APF Records) [Matt Bladen]

Technical metal is a strange genre, it's even stranger with a band such as Utopia which comprises Corrupt Moral Altar vocalist, Chris Reese and guitarist John Bailey. Along with them are a cavalcade of prog/tech metal players such as guitarist Simon Peter King, bassist Arran McSporran (De Profundis), keyboardist Mike Moran (Ozzy Osbourne). Alongside them are three top notch drummers in the shape of Billy Rymer, Baard Kolstad (Leprous), Lee Fisher (Fawn Limbs/Psyopus) and Si Blakelock (Tangaroa/Dream Troll). This album is ridiculously vicious, it sets out to attack and destroy, peeling off riff after violent riff. Far removed from Bailey's day job as a guitarist for acts such as Aled Jones and Russell Watson. 

Stalker is a record built around a frantic style of eclectic jazz metal where the songs shift rapidly in quirky time signatures reminding me of bands such as Dillinger Escape Plan, SYL, Trepalium, Panzerballett and Shining as tracks such as Full Length Biography have those repeating polyrhythms and djent style grooves, Impotent Prophet one of the most mind-bending numbers on the record will wreck you mind, as Utopia ups the atmospherics and low slow doom sound. These are just three instances but there are numerous others where the band compliment the intelligent lyricsm with a musical dexterity that is often bewildering. For fans of virtuosic playing and extreme metal styling Stalker will get your faces gurning with appreciation. 8/10   

Brian Setzer – Gotta Have The Rumble (Surfdog/Mascot Records) [Simon Black]

Sometimes you just need a break from all the Metal. Given that my desk is normally groaning under the virtual weight of this month’s Power and Symphonic Metal releases, taking a side step to something a bit more retro makes a refreshing change. Enter the latest solo project from Brian Setzer, erstwhile of the Stray Cats and Brian Setzer Orchestra. The latter project had been the main solo vehicle for this Rockabilly Revival singer, guitarist and songwriter for a number of years, so I am not sure why the subtle rebrand has taken place, but either way if you know his name already, then you know exactly what to expect. That’s good old fashioned 50’s US Rockabilly Rock’N’Roll, which to be fair, is one of the starting points for everything that you normally get to hear in the Rock and Metal worlds.

In general it gets away with its retro feel better when the songs keep to the short two to three minutes of run time typical of the era. That said, Setzer does have the chops to allow for some more lengthy and experimental songs that work surprisingly well, because all the players clearly sound like they are having a good time doing it. The Cat With 9 Wives being the best example of this, even if lyrically the world has somewhat moved on somewhat. The cover and a number of the tracks may show the continued deep love of the road that still persists in the heart of America and fundamentally this remains good driving music of the kind that will always go down well at a bike rally. Setzer’s voice remains in good form, and he certainly knows how to write a tight and flowing set of tunes, added to which the production evokes the period whilst sounding rich and modern. First and foremost this remains music that is infectiously easy to listen to, even if the novelty does start to wear off after a while. 6/10

Steel Rhino - Steel Rhino (GMR Music) [Matt Bladen]

Ah Herbie Langhans, I love your voice, gritty and soulful. He has featured on numerous melodic/power metal bands and is the current frontman of Firewind. So how does he fair as the frontman of new group Steel Rhino? Well he's one of the redeeming features of this record. Drummer Mikael Rosengren is the brains behind this band, it's basically his solo record and he decided to move away from the melodic rock and embrace the heavy. Well it seems that Mikael has been listening to a lot of Accept recently as Steel Rhino is very Teutonic in terms of solid rock solid rhythms from Mikael's drum kit, the riffs come from Filip Vilhelmsson who takes the guitars and bass on the record with a dual axe attack and galloping bassline to fuse with Mikael's powerful percussion. To round things out they have picked the ideal voice for this record in Herbie who is the best thing here, elevating the reasonably basic music on the album. There are one or two tracks hear that are worth a couple of listens, and Europe will eat it up I'm sure but Steel Rhino doesn't really have enough going for it to come back more than once. 6/10