Boston’s Rawhide begin this 4- track with one and a half minutes of masturbatory twiddling that builds up to a rather mediocre and disappointing crescendo. The vocals have the upper hand in terms of execution, and will no doubt remind the listener of New York heavy weights Madball, whilst the guitar, drums and bass amass to a pale reflection of said Hardcore kings with a few painful and arbitrary solos thrown in for good measure.
Title track “Branded For Life” begins more promisingly, with a high energy drum march and some guitar screeches that are on the right side of heavy metal. Just. An altogether tighter track, the execution is almost flawless, but even at their peak you can’t help feel that there’s something missing. It may be a result of production, as it is evident that success might await this group if their sound was beefed up considerably. However they should too ditch the aforementioned nonsense and have something more tangible to say.
“Through My Eyes” is more to my taste and boasts a classic Rock ‘n’ Roll sound given a kick in the teeth courtesy of Punk Rock. Definitely one of the strongest tracks on the EP, it should probably have been cut a little shorter and had less of a dragging chorus. “Sanitarium Blues” is a more ballsy effort and rips the tone wide open with an ode to the misery of sanitariums! This song is where the band come into their own with a sort of 21st century Johnny Cash meets clinically insane Skinhead feel, if you know what I mean… The result is Incredibly entertaining, simple and most of all effective. There is of course yet another solo but it is greeted with far less resentment as it adds a bluesy quality to the track and contributes to the overall sound as opposed to simply adding a show of skill. Unfortunately, this album is over all a pretty poor effort and nothing to scream about, but if Rawhide released an album of tracks similar to “Sanitarium Blues” I’d be the first in line to grab a copy.
No comments:
Post a Comment