Throttlerod
“Hell and High Water”
(Small Stone Records)
There’s not a lot of room in today’s music for acts like Throttlerod. With their throaty vocals and full-figured guitars, Throttlerod plays rock and roll with a decided Southern twist. You can get your Skynyrd ya-yas out after about three tracks worth of distorted, squelched guitars. And with tunes like “Whistlin’ Dixie” it’s easy to see where these good ol’ boys get their inspiration.
That said, tunes like “On the Mountain” carry mature enough themes of loss and suicide that hide beneath the trite couplets and heavy bass. Still, there are only twenty-four hours in a day, several of which you’re going to be sleeping, nine of which you’re going to be at work. That leaves you with a scant few hours of the day where you’ll actually be able to listen to the music you love, and “Hell and High Water” most likely won’t worm its way into those precious minutes.
There’s the thick, incessant bass and the under produced mixing, as well as the throwaway couplets inherent in every track that’ll likely have you looking for your rock fix elsewhere.
