By: Anders

Posted: Feb 2, 2006

I became hooked by this American band's music, when I heard their last album "The Second Great Awakening", that was indeed an awakening. The band delivers straight ahead and hard hitting rock n' roll, there's a bit biker rock here, some stoner rock there, a good blend of Motörhead meats Black Sabbath would be the easy description, though the band has a lot more to offer, than being a copy (which they far from are) of the 2 mentioned bands, though that's the names springing to mind during the first listen to the music.

The guitar work is very driving and catchy, some good and dark straight ahead riffs are getting fired from the guitars all the time. There is also some good and blistering solo work, when that is needed. The huge bass is always present, rumbling together with the guitar, keeping the rhythm in place and making itself be heard, to the joy of the listeners. The drumming is fitting, the paces are driving and catch on, it's damn hard not to nod ones head to the pace of the beat. The drumming is pretty nice and varied and doesn't become boring, a good back-bone for the heavy riffs being fired off from the axes. The vocals are good as well, not that varied, but James A. Rota's vocals fits very well into this context, a soft voice, yet pushing its way on the mind of the listener, you can't help noticing it, and the lyrics, which more or less can be heard all the way through, and the band does have some good messages.

The production is good and heavy and fits the music perfectly. The guitar tone is crunchy and has a good edge, and it has a lot of space around it, which makes it sound even better. The bass has a lot of playing room as well and the drums come in when they wish it. The mixing is good as well, the instruments are nicely placed compared to each other, and there is a good organic flow to it, which puts emphasis on the stoner-rock elements.

This is a very good modern rock album, with the roots heavily planted in the past, without it on any means sounding outdated. The music is very fresh, catchy and driving. The musicians are good and the vocals good as well, what more can we wish for? This might not be their rock, but it certainly is my rock!

Rating: 8/10

Fireball Ministry website

Distributed in Denmark and kindly supplied by EMI

Buy the album at

Buy merchandise at

Print