Vocalist Stephen Pearcy has been a household name on the hard rock scene now since the mid '80s thanks to his association with the band Ratt, who were enormously successful and one of the hottest acts of the so-called 'hair metal' era. The singer has been in and out of Ratt more times than you can count, occasionally releasing solo albums not far removed from the music his main band have churned out, and we are again in the midst of a short Ratt hiatus, so why not release another solo album? Thanks to Frontiers Records, Peacy has a formidable outlet for this new set of hard rocking songs, and it's titled Smash, the vocalist joined by guitarists Erik Ferentinos & Chris Hager, bassist Matt Thorn, and drummer Greg D'Angelo (ex-White Lion). Not surprisingly, the music here on Smash isn't far removed from the raunchy, bluesy hard rock & metal of vintage Ratt, Pearcy & Co. coming up with plenty of catchy hooks and booze soaked riffage to keep things interesting on tracks such as "Ten Miles Wide", "Dead Roses", "Lollipop", "Want Too Much" and the fun "Shut Down Baby". "Jamie" rocks pretty hard and contains some great '80s styled moments, and "I Can't Take It" seems like it came out of a 1987 time capsule, a song that easily would have seen some mainstream success back in the day.
But, let's be honest, Pearcy still isn't a very good singer, his shortcomings becoming more apparent the older he gets, however, there's no denying the charisma he has, which oozes out of each and every song here. Despite a tad too many tracks and a few of them bordering on generic '80s trappings (and no guitarist that approaches the genius of Warren DeMartini), this is a surprisingly fun album that is much better than I ever thought it would be. Catchy hard rock songs, solid musicianship, and an upbeat party vibe amounts to a successful return for the veteran Ratt frontman.
Track Listing
01 - I Know I'm Crazy
02 - Ten Miles Wide
03 - Shut Down Baby
04 - Dead Roses
05 - Lollipop
06 - Hit Me With A Bullet
07 - Rain
08 - Want Too Much
09 - What Do Ya Think
10 - Jamie
11 - I Can't Take It (Album Version)
12 - Passion Infinity
13 - Summers End
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
