Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

You gotta love metal, done with authority. It doesn’t have to necessarily be done well; it just needs to be contain the necessary ingredients --- volume, power chords, and sweat --- and you’re ninety percent of the way there. And Diablo Royale will take you all the way.

One of the cool things about Diablo Royale’s self-titled project is the homage the band plays to the bands who preceded them. The reference period, for the most part, is early 1970s, when metal was first becoming popular. Diablo Royale knows its history, and there’s more than a nod and wink to it on here. You got your Deep Purple reference (“Casanova”), your Black Sabbath (or is that Foghat?) influence (“King Of Lies”), “Dead @ 21” (now that’s Foghat), and just plain good old rave ups, done good but not well, and solid (“Overlooked”). “Remedy” isn’t the Black Crowes classic, and “Hair of the Dog” has nothing to do with Nazareth, but they’re great tunes nonetheless, full of energy and channeled aggression. You’re not going to mistake anyone in Diablo Royale for someone in a super group, but all of these guys play energetically and authoritatively, using compositions that utilize their strengths while never letting their reach really exceed their grasp.

DIABLO ROYALE, beer, and some slutty women with tattoos and piercing, and my brother, you’ve got yourself an instant party that’s not over until you say it is. Invite the neighbors and they won’t call the cops.