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"Metallic I.O.U." The Hangmen |
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Imagine going from listening to something called Mojave 3 to this… well if you can't let me put it like this-a church choir would sound ultra heavy! I feel like I've just woken up from a coma and the method they used to snap me out of it was spurring me in the backside continuously until I was forced to leap from the table! So you figure with
a name like The Hangmen, catchy isn't it, you're gonna get a faceful
of good ol' Southern charm… or maybe not-try a solid dose of heavy
rock guitars, They do the old tyme Hollywood rock and sleaze groove thing down to the bone and as much as I grew tired of it back in the day, I'll admit it's kinda refreshing in this day and age of anger, hate and destruction. There's this dual
twang going on between the voice and guitar that just oozes of a Faster I don't know if these guys are the last gasp of real rock and roll as their bio describes-there's been a Hell of a lot of self-described "real" rockers crawling out of the woodwork and most of 'em damn straight, but rather than regurgitating the classic diesel-driven straight outta the garage Detroit sound, this is pure Hollywood tease right down to their "Broke, Drunk, & Stoned" outcries! The tune just brings me back… I'm a little ashamed to admit to the not so glorious days of my own past, which now that I've thought about it, isn't far enough behind yet! Damn them… but hey they got some kick to 'em for sure and what's that I said about the whole Detroit thing earlier? Well by five songs in, "Shoot" is a dead ringer for any Stooges-era power/punk slamboree fit for a fist in the face or in this case, a noose for the neck-kick out the jams Muthaf**kers! It'd be too easy to compare 'em to AC/DC which they do not sound like but their blatant misuse of the three chord power rock tradition taken to the far reaching extremes of sloppiness and anti-societal whining does bring 'em a step closer to respectability! Apparently The Hangmen have "hung" around for a while and have finally gotten themselves together here for this "Metallic I.O.U." thing which could have been years in the making. But however you slice it, it's a nice return to this grind it out, nose-thumbing, do it my way, fuck all brand of fueled up rock and roll… a showdown's been declared at the back end of the once illustrious Trendy-town and I'll be damned if I'll bet against these guys! Released by Acetate Records Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu] P.O. Box 20252
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