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Artist |
Boetz |
| Title |
Call To Arms |
| Label |
Balls Out Records |
| Reviewer |
Vinnie Apicella |
| Rating |
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Now you know something's stirring from Heavy Metal's past when you read
a description that includes "mean guitar licks." Right away I'm
envisioning this old Doug Marks "Learn How To Play Heavy Metal Guitar"
photo from Hit Parader. Not the slightest bit gun-shy of the '80s
label, Ernest Robert Boetz, guitarist/vocalist, takes a stand with his
debut "Call To Arms," his vision for the future built on the glory of an
unforgotten past where catchy good time heavy Rock was the fawn for
corporate label strategists and play list politicians that ruled the
airwaves.
"Call To Arms" endeavors to be nothing more than what it's
implied-let the throttle loose, take off down the highway to Hell, and
ride straight through the doors of the Sony building and demand the
attention of the powers that be! Boetz, driven by this full sense of
purpose, even managed to get Motorhead's Lemmy to lend his charms on the
opening title track duet that's the real taker here-quick out the gate,
anthemic and completely time warped. Throughout, Boetz shimmies and
shakes with a true Southern groove while employing a little of the old
Boogie-Woogie, bottle o' Jack and saddleback strides recalling the best
of Jacksonville's bounty hunters and the flag raising exploits of
rockin' rebellion by song-"Rock 'n Roll Is Good," "Getting Over You,"
and simply by the nature of appearing on the cover with long hair,
muscles and guitar. Listen hard enough and there's plenty of your past
favorites making inadvertent appearances on down the line from AC/DC's
blues-infused three chord dominance, to the low layin' hard ridin'
guiltless pleasure of the seventies' undercut heavyweights as Foghat,
Nugent, and Triumph.
The tunes are straightforward, edgy, bottom heavy,
fairly catchy and contrived to provide the kick that Hard Rock music's
been missing since its '80s heyday. The choruses need more vocal punch
here however and Boetz' voice sometimes comes off as a Paul Rodgers in
decline unaided by the welcome churnability of the riff. I'm inclined
to throw a Kane Roberts in here for comparison-not exactly a household
name in Metal circles or anywhere else for that matter (lately of a solo
career, formerly having played in later groupings with Alice Cooper) his
was nearly the same Hard Rock/Pop Metal style, big on the bulk, soft on
the lyrics, a nice if sometimes cheesy mix of mid '80s firepower and
fluff.
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© 2001 AMZ/music-reviewer.com Robert R. Lewis
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