Buddha Electrostorm

Approfondimenti

If you ever wondered if someone in the Elephant 6 axis was ever going to set down the pop stuff for a while and truly Bring Forth The Rock, well, Thee American Revolution would like to make your acquaintance. Led by Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo, Thee American Revolution have released a debut album, Buddha Electrostorm, that is big, sloppy, and swaggering in a manner that suggests '70s hard rock rubbing up against '90s lo-fi noise mongering while slipping and falling into a pool of cheap beer and bong water. Buddha Electrostorm is shamelessly guitar-heavy (so much so that they actually lift the main riff from "Smoke on the Water" for "Grit Magazine"), and while Schneider and Craig Morris (of Ideal Free Distribution) haven't lost their knack for a killer hook ("Blow My Mind" is 1:51 of sheer cotton-candy bliss), on most of these ten cuts they sound like they're having a whole lot of fun digging out every bad effects pedal they've ever owned and letting them rip (the wah-wah punishment on "Haircut" is practically worth the purchase price all by itself). Buddha Electrostorm keeps its tongue firmly in cheek at all times, but Schneider and Morris tell this joke far too well to not know and love the music that inspired it, and it's fairly easy to imagine "Shoeshine Blues," "Saturn Daze," or "Electric Flame" working as straight-ahead hard rock stuff with a more polished production and someone with a greater Ronnie James Dio influence in front of the vocal mike. Thee American Revolution could beat the Darkness at their own game if they tried a bit harder, and Buddha Electrostorm proves they already write better songs -- they could almost be dangerous if they could stop giggling inwardly while they play (though it would be better for everyone if that never happened).

© Mark Deming /TiVo