Sometimes records are made just so the musicians can have fun, and this is just one of those records. A coming together of some American metal friends to pay homage to some old school rock songs – given the metal treatment. Mike Portnoy ex-Dream Theater and a million other projects, Blitz from Overkill, Phil Demmel of Machine Head, and Mark Menghi.
Ted Nugent’s Wang Dang Sweet Poontang is first up and it’s not a bad cover with a decent solo. Toys In The Attic sounds a lot heavier for sure and it’s a fairly copycat cover. Evil on the other hand does sound really good and has been beefed up a lot. It’s quite easy to beef up old ZZ Top songs as they are quite simple songs and sparse, so Beer Drinkers sounds great. It’s not until we get to Blue Oyster Cult’s Tattoo Vampire that we get a song that they have totally given the metal treatment to – it’s the best song on the album. The only song that sounds worse than the original is Van Halen’s D.O.A. It’s not a bad attempt, but the original is just so damn good.
Like I said, it’s a fun record but it’s not gonna change the world.
8/10 from The Grooveman.
