Atomic Bitchwax - "3"
(Meteorcity Records 2005, MCY036)
Atomic Bitchwax - "3"
(Meteorcity Records 2005, MCY036)
From Aural Innovations #31 (June 2005)
This was going to be a challenging record for TAB to make, with the departure of guitar maestro Ed Mundell. They were lucky to grab the talented guitarist Finn, from the band CORE. While Finn does not try at all to be like Ed, he plays some damn cool guitar riffs and leads. The rhythm section is as strong as ever and kicks some ass. "The Destroyer" opens the CD and shows the band is down to business. "You Oughta Know" is a cool, much more melodic track. A lot more like Black Nasa but with a more hard driving riff style. One thing people will notice is that Finn sings almost half the songs. "You Can't Win" is again a more melodic boring track but then the band kicks it into high gear again with "Dark Chi", a track they played on tour last year. The cover of Deep Purple's classic, "Maybe I'm A Leo", is excellent, especially the totally freaked out lead break by Finn. "Force Field" is a short 2 minute instrumental with great interaction between the players. "Going Guido" is another track the band played on their tour last year and is really pretty bluesy, a bit like Cream. The CD closes with the track "Half As Much", which is a quite psychedelic and has a cool riff. This is a pretty damn cool record but not as intense as the bands previous efforts. I was a bit disappointed at only 39 minutes of music… you can't have it all.
For more information you can visit The Atomic Bitchwax web site at: http://www.theatomicbitchwax.com.
Visit the Meteor City web site at: http://www.meteorcity.com.
Reviewed by Scott Heller