Now you know something's stirring from Heavy Metal's past when you read a description that includes "mean guitar licks…" and 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.

Released by Balls Out Records

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]
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