Australian hard rockers Dead City Ruins are back with their fourth album Shockwave, out now on AFM Records. Anyone who misses the raunchy and somewhat bluesy late '80s sounds of bands like Skid Row, Guns 'n' Roses, and Badlands would be well advised to check out Shockwave, an album that would have been right at home in 1988. Lead singer Steve Welsh at times is a dead ringer for a young Sebastian Bach, especially on songs "Preacher", "Speed Machine", and the snarling "Madness", with the band firing on all cylinders behind him with massive grooves and frantic guitar riffs & licks. "Rain" shows a little Alice in Chains broodiness, "Dog on a Leash" gets the funk out, and both "Drifter" and "Spiders" bridge the gap between Soundgarden and Alice in Chains quite nicely. Most of the time, this band just cooks with tremendous energy, as you can hear on the frantic "End of the Line", the riffs churning and the drums bashing, while "Blood Moon" and "The Sorcerer" brings to mind the metallic grooviness of Crobot.
All in all, Shockwave might not be the most original album ever released, but man does it rock hard and it's a hell of a lot of fun. And that ladies and gentleman, is what rock 'n' roll is all about.
Track Listing
1 Preacher
2 Vision
3 Madness
4 Speed Machine
5 Rain
6 Dog On A Leash
7 This Side Of The Dirt
8 Drifter
9 Spiders
10 End Of The Line
11 Blood Moon
12 The Sorcerer