ANTiSEEN, "We're Number One" Album Review

Scumfeast Metal 666, recently reviewed ANTiSEEN's latest album, "We're Number One." 

Check out what they had to say below!

"What can You say?  Mighty Joe Young is gone.  It was devastating to the bands, his friends family & fans and most including myself. I could not imagine ANTiSEEN without Joe. At the same time after all these years I certainly could not imagine a world without ANTiSEEN. Joe was as unique as they come in rock n roll. His sound was as important to ANTiSEEN as Jeff Clayton's vocals. The two things that stayed consistent for 30 plus years as a band.  He was loved by the fans and a lot of other people.  RIP Joe. You are still missed. But Ya know. One of the things that makes ANTiSEEN who they are. They don't stop. they don't quit or give up. They continue doing what they do."

Rory Kelly Feature Review On Shutter 16

Rory Kelly feature review on Shutter 16

Link to original post on Shutter 16

"North Carolina rockers Rory Kelly’s Triple Threat, which consists of his father on drums and bassist Billy Miller, keep the bluesy, southern rock vibe alive with their latest release Kings Never Sleep. A veteran of several previous metal and rock acts, Kelly finally melds his self taught guitar chops, hard scrabble voice, and southern rock vision into something to behold.

Kings Never Sleep is a nice amalgamation of thick electric blues/rock guitar, contemporary blues sounds, and good ole’ fashioned southern rock. “Laid to Waste” opens the album with a hard driving southern rock groove that one would expect from a blues based act. While not the album’s strongest track, it does get the point across, quite melodically in fact, that you’re in some humid southern territory sonically. “Kings Never Sleep,” the album’s title track, slows the groove down to a slower burn, and unlike Metallica’s attempt at a bluesy sound on “2X4” off Load, Kelly really DOES conjure an “Aerosmith on steroids” sound here that’s much more natural sounding. For “Black Widow,” Kelly pulls out the acoustic guitar and cranks up his gravelly growl a notch for a real down and dirty little ditty about a much revisited, but here fresh sounding, look at an old blues/rock trope. “Walking Wounded” and “Menace to Society” amp up the blues rock stomp and will stoke the crowd into a heated frenzy when played live, but really demonstrate nothing unique or outstanding. “Wouldn’t Listen” with its snaky acoustic guitar is a much better track musically, even if it will probably be regulated to the acoustic break in the show. Clocking in at a scant 1 minute 58 seconds, “Wouldn’t Listen” nevertheless is the strongly beating heart of the album with its stripped down muscle and beat. “Stood Your Ground,” the album’s second longest track at 4 minutes 23 seconds is the album’s most consummate rock track, and its most radio friendly one. “Hittin’ the Bottom” bookends perfectly with “Stood Your Ground” as it delivers some more thick cut southern rock chops. Kelly’s cover of Merle Travis’ “16 Tons” delivers some of the album’s best blues/rock guitar and wraps it all in a Bruce Springsteen-like populist sound. About midway through though, Kelly unleashes some brilliant metal riffing that takes the song to a whole other level before returning it to its chain gang stomp. Easily one of the album’s best tracks (because of what Kelly does with it), “16 Tons” is one of those songs that will get stuck on your MP3 players repeat function. Rounding out the album is “Hasta La Muerta” that, like it’s title suggests, allows the band to dabble in a Southwest sound. It’s an instrumental track that allows the listen to drift off mentally to a landscape full of Gila monsters and cacti. Kelly and company pull off this sound well, and more of this on their next album will be most welcome.

Rory Kelly’s Kings Never Sleep is a great step in the right direction for a talented musician and songwriter. There’s much on this record that warrants repeat listening, and even more scarily, Kelly and company’s best is yet to come based on what we hear here."

J.B. Beverley Feature Review On American Roots UK

 Link to review on American Roots UK

Order your copy of the album


"Having previously made four albums that include one live limited edition and one demo recording, as well as touring relentlessly with his band ‘The Wayward Drifters’ it was perhaps inevitable that a change was due in the shape of a ‘solo’ album for the copiously talented J.B. Beverley. How often do we see the frontman of many a great band doing this only to find the finished product a disappointment. Not so in the case of JB! This album is a real triumph for an incredibly busy singer/songwriter who also runs his own recording studio, produces and engineers other peoples recordings, as well as being an author and screenwriter. Because ‘Drifters’ Johnny Lawless retired from the road and Dan Mazer moved out to the west coast, JB was forced into rethinking his musical career and fans old and new are fortunate that this new album not only matches the high quality of previous recordings but as a bonus offers more diversity whilst still firmly within the ‘roots music’ genre.     

His roots, as with friends James Hunnicutt and Hank Williams III, are in ‘punk’ music but that particular roots strain has gradually evolved into an edgy form of music that veers between a form of gothic country to southern rock to classic country, even a little blues and just about all points in between, all played and sung as if each of those strains was the only thing JB has ever played. He is a hugely talented singer songwriter who would probably have more success sticking to plain ‘commercial country,’ (as a vocalist he is more than capable of such a swing) but then we wouldn’t get treats such as this tremendous album! He really is a musician that ploughs his own furrow and one that is deep, diverse, heartfelt and full of commitment.

The fact that he can sing straight country in many ways proves his talent for diversity because that is only a small part of what this album contains, with him being equally at home on a ‘heavy’ rocker or front porch instrumental. I would have said it was virtually impossible for anyone to make an album such as this but JB, with the help of a few hugely talented friends, pulls it off. His extraordinarily gifted friend James Hunnicutt joins him on many of the songs sometimes adding vocals but always with his excellent guitar playing and the talented Buck Thrailkill plays banjo.  

There are fifteen tracks on the album, two of which are instrumentals, twelve were written by J.B and the three covers are Motorhead’s I Ain’t No Nice Guy, a duet with his equally talented old friend James Hunnicutt that veers between mellow folksiness and a raw powerful rocked up Motorhead feel and back again, putting the original in the shade! The traditional Hang Me, Oh Hang Me is an incredible live recording of the song with just JB's tremendous vocal and acoustic guitar propelling this classic song. The other cover is the late Gene Lee Wilcox  penned Time Will Tell, a simply stunning version of the darkest of all love songs that for good measure incorporates a murder ballad!

Thematically there is a dark atmosphere to many of the songs, hardly surprising considering several personal tragedies that were occurring in JB's life at the time of writing these songs. There is a deeply reflective thread that seems to bind many of the tales together despite the individual songs coming from musically diverse directions. The album opens with Appalachian Swamp Stomp an excellent instrumental that was recorded on JB's porch with him on cigar box guitar and Big Geo Ballentine on slide guitar. It has a deep dark atmosphere that could easily lure the casual listener into thinking this is going to be a ‘hillbilly’ album, but what follows certainly gives the lie to that premise! It is followed by Get The Wheels A Rollin’ a tremendously fiery hard driving ‘southern’ rocker that veers well away from any sort of country music. I described the album as diverse and so it is proven by the next song All The Little Devils, a terrific, quite dark, slow moody ballad with just acoustic guitar plus nice harmony vocals from Hunnicutt and co author Ronnie Hymes. Three entirely different strains of roots music but can he keep up the diversity? You bet he can, as proven on the next track. It is another instrumental but one entirely different to the album opener. This is called Bit Of Pickin’ a tune that is a tremendous jaunty banjo and acoustic guitar ‘old timey’ instrumental with Buck Thrailkill on banjo and Hunnicutt and Beverley on acoustic guitars. It would be easy to imagine this one being played on a front porch of the high Appalachians or conversely on a Mississippi river boat and has the quality that the late great John Hartford would have been proud of had he written it! An excellent co write by the three players. Disappear On Down The Line is an intensely dark, sad tale with a classic country vocal on what can almost be described as a classic country song, with excellent harmonies from Hunnicutt, acoustic guitars and cello and Beverley’s peerless heartfelt lead vocal on a gorgeous slow moody ballad. The title track Stripped To The Root is an incredible song and one that emphasises JB's raw evocative vocal with just sparse acoustic guitar for company. The song has an atmosphere that says the teller has lived this life and is now reflecting on the consequences as they leave him with no way to turn but knowing that somehow he must try to find a way back up. A story of such exceptional quality and raw heartrending emotion that had Guy Clark, Townes or Prine written it, the song would be hailed as one of the great pieces of generic writing!

As a measure of the man’s talent this open hearted album could not really have been surpassed. His writing is exceptional, the arrangements never overdone, there is huge diversity, he possesses vocals that can cope with most genres within roots music and there is a natural edginess that never gets in the way of the songs. Great album! "

J.B. Beverley feature write up on American Roots UK

 

J.B. Beverley Feature Review On MoonRunners

J.B. Beverley feature write up on MoonRunners by Owen Mays

Check out the write up on MoonRunners


"In less than a week, on Tuesday, November 12, one of the longest anticipated albums of the last couple of years will finally become available to the public. J.B. Beverley's debut solo album, 'Stripped To The Root'. J.B. Was kind enough to pass a copy along to me as soon as it was completed. You will not find a bigger fan of J.B. Beverley & The Wayward Drifters than me. I've shared stages, vans, and studios with J.B., Dan, and Johnny over the years, and wouldn't be the man I am today without the two Wayward Drifters records. Needless to say, the idea of J.B. Going in a different direction, and doing things that he, “can't do on a Wayward Drifters record”, had me curious, excited, and honestly, a little frightened of what I was going to hear.

To call 'Stripped' eclectic, would be one hell of an understatement. You have everything from interludes, to banjos, to distorted electric guitars, to rock songs, to folk songs. If you're coming into this album as a fan of the Wayward Drifters, believe me, come into it with an open mind, and you'll love what you're hearing. It's still J.B., but it's by no means a Wayward Drifters record.

J.B. Is joined on 'Stripped' by the Guitar Jedi himself, James Hunnicutt, and Banjoist extraordinare, mustache enthusiast(please don't kick my ass for that one, Buck), and all around badass at anything you can think of, Buck Thrailkill. A beautiful display of all three men's instrumental talents can be heard on the track, 'Bit Of Pickin'', which I'm guessing is titled as a nod to the Black Sabbath track, 'Bit of Finger'.

As far as the songs themselves go, I'm sure this will come as no surprise to most of you, but there are some beautiful, epic tracks on here. 'When I Can Make You Mine', 'Disappear on Down The Line', and the title track, 'Stripped To The Root', are all stripped down, well written songs dealing with the ups and downs of love. 'All the Little Devils' is a well delivered slab of brilliance, that takes a well needed jab at an irritating, and downright stupid trend(you'll have to hear the track for yourself to get what I'm saying). My personal favorite on the album has to be, 'Queen of the Scene'. The line, “I'll be the king of these heartbroken songs girl...you be the queen of the scene”, could not possibly be put any better. One more I have to point out, is the cover of 'Time Will Tell', written by the criminally underrated, Gene Lee Wilcox of Blue Balls Deluxe. Good to see J.B. Paying respects to him on 'Stripped'.

I have no doubt that a lot of people will be shocked by the direction this record goes in, but I'll be shocked if anyone finds the need to complain after giving it a few listens. As far as albums released in 2013 go, this is hands down my favorite, and there have been a few good ones released already.

'Stripped To The Root' will be released world wide on Rusty Knuckles on Tuesday, November 12th, and can currently be pre-ordered at Rusty Knuckles Music.

Reno Divorce Feature Review On For The Love Of Punk

Reno Divorce feature review on For The Love Of Punk

Check out the review on For The Love Of Punk

"It is both beautiful and tragic that the best OC punk album in years comes from half the country away. Lover’s Leap from Denver’s Reno Divorce delivers the sound we have all been waiting around for, but didn’t get. This is the record Mike Ness wished he would have written. From the opening bars of “Rep to Protect”, you know exactly what you’re in for. “I’d love to sit and chat about all the times I let you down, but now I’m all done with that. ” It’s a bold and plaintive statement, accompanied by a “come at me bro” old school sound that is both reassuring in its familiarity, yet cleaned up with just enough polish to make it shine. It’s like the hot rod in your old man’s garage that just needed a tune up to roar down the road.

Highlights of the record include some of the best written lyrics about fake friends, like in the song “Ill Gotten Gains”. “Oh, I wish that I knew who I was talking to, but with you I don’t know who to smack”. The song “Sunsets and Corvettes” deals with love gone wrong: “I’ve got a box full of your things, I guess that I should throw it away.” The final track, “Don’t Let It Slip Away”, shows the band’s attempts at redemption: “ I know I let you down, and I’m sorry for that, there’s a million things that I’d take back.”

A few songs do get a bit sophomoric, and seem more suited to a 19 year old’s mentality. Some examples are when Brent Loveday sings “I’m sittin on my couch, drinkin whiskeys and water, braggin how I fucked somebody’s daughter” in “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun” and in “I’ll Always Be Your Slave” when he bluntly states “sometimes when we fuck, I don’t think we fuck at all.” Sonically the musicianship here makes it easy to overlook these rare moments of immaturity. The bright ringing guitar work and perfect steady drumming deliver an overall vibe that makes you feel simultaneously young and invincible, yet road weary from having seen too much hurt and heart ache.

This album contains a lifetime of feelings packed into thirteen tracks. Reno Divorce dares you to “ride with me to Lover’s Leap, where the rocks are sharp and the waters deep” and dive in. Do it. It’s a great ride and worth every second."

Husky Burnette Feature Album Review From R/N/Z Magazine

Husky Burnette album review in R/N/Z Magazine

Check out the review on R/N/Z Magazine

"What do you get when you take Husky Burnette and add in Buck Thrailkill, Rebel Roots Recording Studio, and the Rusty Knuckles  J.B. Beverley,brand? There is only one correct answer… pure genius!!! You may recall one of my first reviews was of Husky’s EP entitled “Stripped” ; that album  was great, but man has the ante been upped with “Tales from East End BLVD”. Rarely will I go on record as rating an album against another, but this is hands down the best record of the year thus far.
 
It’s not that often that a producer and an artist can come off as so copacetic, you really feel like this is the artist’s interpretation of his own sound as he hears it in his head. The sound is so thick and complex, and it does this without the over produced feel that generally comes along with that richness. “Tales from East End BLVD” is as effortless to sink into as a listener as they made it seem to play, keyword effortless, not careless, there is a ton of talent here. The album had been playing nonstop for a week while I was waiting for a break to write this, that kind of rotation alone says something for me.



What we have here are some heavy, rockin’ blues. Husky can really wail on his guitar, very complex playing with lots of notes coming through I all the right places. The fact that he can play like that while he sings, rather than playing almost rhythm while he sings then make the strings talk when he isn’t (like a lot of blues cats do) blows my mind. It’s gruff, gritty, distorted, and filled with liquor, women, and all the good stuff we love to hear about. I could listen for days if it was Husky Burnette and his guitar, with their perfect match of voice; but add into the mix J.B. Beverley on bass, a killer drum track, and a few other talented musicians that make a guest appearance or two and those days turn into who knows how long. You have a couple slower tracks int here that are just as good as the fasted tracks, and the emotion really seeps out of those into your very inner core. He breaks into Hendrix for a riff toward the end of “Work It”, the like of which I have never heard anyone get so hauntingly close while still playing his style. Come on Carolina “basically an outtake/campfire type of recording. It was 2am and we’d had a lot of moonshine and just decided to do it.

I am more pleased to say this whole album is one 12 track long gem. It was very highly anticipated, and with that kind of anxiousness it is easy to disappoint. Not this time guy. If you don’t know Husky Burnette you are really missing out, and this album shines like a diamond freshly cut from the rough. I recommend listening in order of the track list, but every track can stand up against whatever you want to throw at them on their own as well, It WILL blow y mind.

“Tales from East End BLVD. is the latest LP from blues rock artist Husky Burnette. It’s a 12 track album released by the Rusty Knuckles record label in August 20,13. The record was produced by J.B. Beverley and recorded by J.B. and Buck Thrailkill at Rebel Roots Studio in Fayetteville, NC. Husky added electric bass guitar to line up on this album, getting away from the two-man band, but still keeping it raw and dirty. He also has guest appearances such as J.B. Beverley on bass guitar duty and the final track, ” Come On Carolina”, features Shooter Jennings, Billy Don Burns, J.B. Beverley , Buck Thrailkill and Aaron Rodgers.” – Tales from East End Blvd. press release."

Carolina Still Album Review From Kinston

"Carolina Still’s new album “The Color of Rust” is an impressive blend of bluegrass/country music delivered with the zest of rockabilly and punk. The album’s tight playing and fresh production make the Avett Brothers sound like a funeral band.

With an acoustic guitar/fiddle/banjo sound that’s tough to pigeonhole, Carolina Still exudes a joyous charm. There is nothing corn pone about the songs on “The Color of Rust,” but the songs do celebrate southern virtues that have stood the test of time.

The title track chronicles the way time has a way of steamrolling rural life, but the lyrics are defiant. To an outsider, “Hog Killin’ Time” may seem a bit harsh, but it’s a song about cold weather and bacon. Blake Shelton is probably too busy hanging out with Christina Aquavelva to record a song about breakfast meats, but thank goodness Carolina Still did it.

“The Color of Rust” is steeped in southern vibes and tones, but drummer Billy Smith drives the band as if he’s trying out for the Foo Fighters or Green Day. Bluegrass purists tend to go berserk any time a fiddle and/or a banjo is in the same building with a drummer, but this is a combination that works brilliantly for Carolina Still.

Shoot … bluegrass overlord Bill Monroe would have probably had a drummer if they could have fit the kit in the trunk of a Lincoln.

As for the string benders in Carolina Still — J. Alan Casey, Adam Jones and Robert Norman — there’s not a holder* in the bunch. These guys are pickers of the highest order, and their lead/harmony vocals turn “In the Barn” and “Six Strings and You” into massive sing-a-longs.

“The Color of Rust” is the perfect album for the bluegrass/country music lover who is tired of being sold pop music with a cowboy hat on top. Hopefully Carolina Still with have a nice long run, because there aren't many groups left who can sing and play at this level.

*A “holder” is someone who stands on stage holding an instrument as a prop. A “picker” is someone who knows how to actually play the instrument. (copyright Bryant Dawson, 1980)"

Link to original review


Carolina Still - The Color of Rust - Album Cover Process Illustration from Rusty Knuckles on Vimeo.

Review of Carolina Still's album, The Color Of Rust

Antiseen Review From New Noise Magazine

If you enjoy the new split 7" from Antiseen and Nunslaughter, check out our previous Antiseen releases. Go to Antiseen's store page within Rusty Knuckles to pick up a few of their other albums.

Split 7" vinyl record with Antiseen and Flat Tires

Antiseen 7" vinyl record featuring Joe Buck

Antiseen - Falls Count Anywhere - A collection of Wrestling Songs

Nunslaughter/Antiseen
Split 7”
(Hells Headbangers)

"This is a great split! Lots of fun. Oh and it’s red. Artwork is unique and fitting while the inlays are bold and rewarding. These two bands have been doing their respective forms of music for decades and still crush. The record supplies two exclusive tracks from each band.

Nun-Slaughter delivers two tight tunes of blasphemous metal. Fast, dirty, thrashy riffs with time changes that will get any authentic rebel to sing along with audible lyrics loaded with caustic disposals of Christianity. This is punk influenced lo-fi metal that slays all non-believers.

Anti-Seen have been doing this longer than your parents have been shopping at Hot Topic. Repping the Confederacy of Scum, Anti-Seen are not here to be your friend. They kick down the door with two low tuned, thick as tangled fur riffs played punk as hell. If White Zombie had talent and did some Wretched Ones covers, you might get the hint. Some Hank I, Hank III, Nashville Pussy and Forced Reality end up here in a blender of nihilism and debauchery. The nod to Reagan throws me off but not really. Great songs. Crack a can of cheap American Pilsner and strap your boots on.

FFO: Midnight, Voivod, Vio-lence, Hirax, Infest, Despise You, Poison Idea, Limecell, GG Allin." (Hutch)

Purchase the split 7″ here: http://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/nunslaughter-antiseen-vinyl.asp

www.nunslaughter.com
www.antiseen.com
hellsheadbangers.com

Antiseen split 7" review featured on New Noise Magazine

Hellbound Glory, Damaged Goods Reviewed On Engine 145

Check it out, another review coming in already for Hellbound Glory's - Damaged Goods. This one is from Engine 145.

Link directly to the review on Engine 145

"Hellbound Glory just keeps getting better. The Reno-based, self-professed purveyors of “scumbag country” have delivered an album that’s a little smoother around the edges than their previous two releases. Unlike debut release Scumbag Country and last year’s solid Old Highs and New Lows, there is little percussion on the ten song record, but the gravel-voiced frontman Leroy Virgil is in fine, ragged form throughout, snarling “Hey there, bouncer, hit me as hard as you want/This ain’t my first fight in a bar parking lot” on “’Til the Lights Go Out” and spinning stories of hard living and hard luck. 

It’s not all bar fights and bastard children, though. Virgil shows off his witty side with “She Left Me in Modesto,” a likeable tale reminiscent of the story found on Clint Black’s 1998 single “Nothin’ but the Taillights,” but with one important twist: “She might have stole my beat-up truck/But I’ve got her credit card.” Though there are no references to dirt roads or any of the other “countrier than thou” signifiers that make up countless contemporary hits, with some slicked-up production and the easy charm of a radio darling like Brad Paisley behind the microphone, “Modesto” would zoom up the mainstream charts thanks to an arrangement tailor made for steering wheel drumming and the aforementioned “twist” ending cooked up by Virgil, who is arguably the most underrated songwriter in roots music these days. His ability to turn a phrase is far beyond his years, and when his words are paired with hook-heavy arrangements, it makes for a supremely enjoyable album. There isn’t a skippable song to be found on the too-short record (it clocks in at a shade over thirty minutes), but if there’s one that demands repeated listening, it’s tough-love tune “You Better Hope You Die Young,” which finds Virgil delivering harsh truths: “You can live your whole life just like there’s no tomorrow/But, baby, here’s a fact/That all them all-nighters are all just time you borrowed/Someday you’ll have to pay them back.”

Its readily apparent musical influences Johnny Paycheck and Merle Haggard will endear this album to fans of ’60s and ‘70s honky tonk, but it’s also raw enough for the alt-country and the Shooter Jennings-helmed XXX movements, and catchy enough for a large chunk of mainstream listeners, Damaged Goods should be the record that catapults Hellbound Glory, though probably not to the top of the charts, at least to the top of several year-end “best of” lists. Not bad for a bunch of so-called scumbags. 

5 Stars" - Juli Thanki

Hellbound Glory review for Damaged Goods on Engine 145

Hellbound Glory - Damaged Goods - Reviewed By Farce The Music

Another killer review just arrived for Hellbound Glory from FarceTheMusic.com

Hellbound Glory Album review on Farce The Music

"Hellbound Glory's new album, Damaged Goods, is out today and you better buy it (here!). The boys have retained all the swagger and grit of their previous release, Old Highs and New Lows, but shock of shocks.... they've matured. 

Oh, they haven't wiped their repertoire of drug references, attitude and guilty pleasure hooks, but they've grown as a band. Their already solid songwriting has gotten tighter. Their musical chops have gotten stronger... and their passion for the music only seems to be burning hotter. 

Thankfully, the band has also held onto their dark (but somehow not particularly depressing) worldview. Junkies chase their habit into the sunset because that's what they're hellbent on doing. Women leave because that's what they do. We're just left to drink about it, and though there may be some self-pity mixed in, it's always a fully enjoyed self-pity. 

The highlights of the album for me are lead single "Better Hope You Die Young," a warning that hard living isn't conducive to long life, and "Gonna Be a Goner," a catchy woe-is-me toe tapper with an earworm chorus. 

"Knocked Off the Horse" is the track that sticks with you, though. It presents the case in matter-of-fact storytelling, that some drug addicts are just destined to let their dependence kill them and there's nothing you can do about it. It's an uncomfortably edgy take on the subject that paints the druggie as almost a heroic figure. It's a breath-taking tune. 

Grab this album now if you like stone country with a modern bent and an unfiltered look at the seedier side of life. <---cliche but true Damaged Goods is a gem."

Hellbound Glory - Damaged Goods - Album Review, From Saving Country Music

Hopefully the reviews will keep rollin' in, here is one from SavingCountryMusic.com 

Hellbound Glory photo by Juan Two Three

Frequent visitors to Saving Country Music know how much of a proponent of Reno, NV’s Hellbound Glory I am. Ever since I heard their second album Old Highs & New Lows over a year ago, there may be no band I’ve pushed harder for, and the album went on to be SCM’s 2010 Album of the Year. If you want to accuse Saving Country Music of being the house organ of Hellbound Glory, guilty as charged. I’m not just drinking the Hellbound Kool-Aid, I’m slapping two fingers on the inside of my arm, looking for a vein to mainline the stuff right in.

Their third official album Damaged Goods offers a shift in their approach, without sacrificing the authentic themes, energy, or the peerless wit in the songwriting that makes Hellbound Glory so engaging. The exit of the band’s drummer “Chico”, and a slightly, and I emphasize slightly tamer approach to the lyricism brings a lot more of an open sound to the band, and a new focus on what has always been their best asset: the songwriting prowess of frontman Leroy Virgil.

Damaged Goods is an excellent album with some excellent songs. The standouts are the heart-pumping opening track “Bastard Child”, and the gear-shifting, slow and soulful “Better Hope You Die Young” that embodies the heart of the Damaged Goods theme. The funnest track on the album is “She Left Me In Modesto”, where Virgil proves he can not only flash his pen with witty turns of of phrase, but also with telling a story. The song is so smart, you can’t help but picture yourself the protagonist, with the big payoff lyric at the end making you laugh out loud. “Lost Cause” is an upbeat song with a downbeat message, built on a bed of steel guitar and sad realism.

Caution, at first smell, the reaction from some familiar with Hellbound Glory will be that there’s no drums, and no drugs, and already I see this as a big talking point about this album going into the release. There is drums, or at least percussion on every song. They could have added more drums, or possibly even had Chico play on this album, but instead decided to take a minimal approach to compliment the songwriting, and to more fairly represent what they do live, which these days features no drummer from financial necessity, just Leroy Virgil sitting on a bass drum backwards to keep the beat.

And the drug references are still there, just slightly more subtle. Hellbound may have been unfairly pigeon-holed by some from Old Highs & New Lows that purposely took songs laced with drug references and bunched them together. But drug references were never all the band was about.

Good songwriters know how to relate to people with wit and authentic subjects and language, and that is what Leroy Virgil does, and did. He works with the language and themes of our time, but in no way is it outside of the boundaries or modes country music has always had. Hank Williams sang about “Honky Tonkin’,” Johnny Cash sang about pills and cocaine. Leroy sang about Oxycontin in the previous album because that is what people can relate to today. Now, as Leroy said himself about Damaged Goods when I interviewed him recently:

…it’s not so much about drugs, but the people that do drugs, the people that are in this scummy lifestyle that we live, why they live that way, and what’s going to happen if they continue living that way.

…taking the cautionary tale-approach to sin that has been a central theme to country music since it’s inception.

I would be lying if I called this my favorite Hellbound Glory album, but I’d also be lying if I said the more stylized and subtle approach doesn’t make this album so much more accessible that it opens Leroy Virgil and Hellbound Glory up to the broader recognition they deserve. The fact that Hellbound Glory, as big as they may be in certain circles, is still a relative unknown, is the clearest evidence I can procure that country music has no idea what it’s doing, and has no working system in place to mine and develop talent. At the least BMI and ASCAP should be shuttling suits out to Reno to poach Leroy’s brain for this high Sierra gold that would instantly raise the bar of songwriting in the mainstream country world.

But that’s where the big question about Leroy and Hellbound come in. Is that what they want? As much as I want to blame the music machine for their idiocy of overlooking Leroy, I think a bigger opportunity is there for Leroy if he wanted it, and was willing to work at it. He’s good enough to be noticed. But his unwillingness to compromise, and his concern that if he systematically changes who he is then the wit would stop flowing, has made him reluctant to aggressively pursue “success” in whatever form.

As for me, I’ve done all I can from my little podium here folks. Whatever cred the name Saving Country Music has, it is behind Hellbound Glory 100%. And now that they have an album where there’s no excuses, the undeniable talent of Hellbound Glory and Leroy Virgil is there for anyone with an authentic country heart to see. It is time for someone to step up. They don’t deserve the SCM Album of the Year, they deserve something better, something more than I can give. It is time for them to graduate, for someone a step higher to step up, put these boys as the opener on a serious tour, get them out of having to battle with a juke box full of rap music at brokedown bars, but also someone who understands their element, and how a loss of authenticity would be their demise.

As for me, I’m out of superlatives, except for one more.

Two guns up!

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Purchase Damaged Goods on vinyl with download from Rusty Knuckles.

Preview & Purchase Damaged Goods on iTunes (available on Amazon Nov. 22nd)
Hellbound Glory – You Better Hope You Die Young by RustyKnuckles

Hellbound Glory Review On Metal Rage

Here is a review we just found by Demon Dust over on MetalRage.com out of the Netherlands. Needless to say we are damn proud to get a review over on a metal site and we can thank Hank 3 for opening that door. Best part is that metal heads are diggin' Real Country. Hellbound Glory don't have to infuse anything but their own swagger to be heard and that is what is making them get attention far and wide.

Hellbound Glory - You Better Hope You Die Young by RustyKnuckles

 

"Since a couple of years I’ve been facing a severe country addiction. Ever since Hank III started kicking up dust playing country as a punk/metalhead, outlaw country got a new face and started to appeal more and more to the longhaired headbanging crowd. Personally, I can’t get enough of this stuff. Here is one I never heard of before, Hellbound Glory, from Reno, NV with their new album Old Highs & New Lows. Good title.

This foursome portrays themselves as scumbag country, something that you can find in the lyrics for sure. It’s about getting drunk, fucking, taking drugs, fucking up, depression, partying, getting even more drunk and listening to Hank Williams. That’s good, I like those things. Lyrically this is a nice ride, with nice one-liners that I will start to quote as soon as I’ve really played this one too much like all the others. I just have some small things that I find a bit annoying. The main singing voice for instance, I don’t get the idea I’m dealing with a real inbreed redneck here. But who’s to tell, that guy might just punch my face in for saying that. Other than that I feel a bit the same with the music, they are more in the Americana-rock scene than true outlaw country. In the foursome there isn’t even a banjo, ukelele, mandolin, steel guitar or whatever player. They have some guest performances for that, but I kind of miss it.

The songs are well written though, and it still sounds sincere enough to have a good time while listening to it. The lyrics help a lot too. But still, when I would compare this to an act like Mountain Sprout or classics like Wayne Hancock or Hank III, I know what I prefer to put on."

 - Demon Dust, Metal Rage

Metal Rage album review of Hellbound Glory's - Old Highs & New Lows