Music Reviews

Sixty Watt Shaman

Reason To Live

Spitfire

Spitfire Records is a juggernaut in the metal community these days, and the vast majority of releases they put out are brutal. The same cannot be said about the latest from Sixty Watt Shaman.

Reason To Live is a big, greasy haired, pot-bellied guy at a concert, screaming for Sabbath or Molly Hatchet. This is pure late-1970s power rock/ metal stuff, complete with fancy blues solos and southern accents. If you’re into this genre, the sloppy, balls out rock & roll heralded by Black Sabbath, Nashville Pussy, Corrosion Of Conformity, Crowbar, and a handful of bands that sound like The James Gang, then you’ll go nuts over Reason to Live; I, however, do not like this type of stuff, whatsoever.

The lead singer sounds like the lead singer of the band Seven Mary Three (they had a minor hit in the late-‘90s, “Cumbersome”); that guy made me want to drive bamboo shoots under my fingernails, and so does the lead singer for Sixty Watt Shaman. He sounds like he might be into Danzig, too.

The guitars are surprisingly powerful here, a very Marshall amplifier sound with warm tone and lightning fast licks. The drums annoy me, for they are buried and the drummer uses his ride cymbal a bit too often, taking some of the power away from the music. The bass guitar is a total sham. It has a really flat sound, no high end whatsoever. It sounds like the guy plays with his fingers, as well, which sounds weak when compared to bassists who play with picks. Yuck.

I don’t know how to rate this, mainly because I feel like a jerk for saying it’s so bad when fans of this type of stuff might enjoy it. Southern fried rock fans will love this; others, try it for yourself, but I won’t go near it again anytime soon.

Spitfire Records: http://www.spitfirerecords.com


Recently on Ink 19...

Garage Sale Vinyl: KISS, The Solo Albums

Garage Sale Vinyl: KISS, The Solo Albums

Garage Sale Vinyl

This week, cuddly curmudgeon Christopher Long finds himself feeling even older as he hobbles through a Florida flea market in pursuit of vinyl copies of the four infamous KISS solo albums — just in time to commemorate the set’s milestone 45th anniversary.

Borsalino

Borsalino

Screen Reviews

Starting with small-time jobs, two gangsters take over all the crime in Marseilles in this well-paced and entertaining French film. Carl F. Gauze reviews the freshly released Arrow Video Blu-ray edition of Borsalino (1970).

Weird Science

Weird Science

Screen Reviews

Two teenage boys build a sexy computer girlfriend with an 8-bit computer… you know the story. Carl F. Gauze reviews Weird Science (1985), in a new 4K UHD Blu-ray release from Arrow Films.

City of the Living Dead

City of the Living Dead

Screen Reviews

Cauldron Films’ new UHD/Blu-ray release of Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead (1980) preserves one of the best Italian horror films, according to Phil Bailey.

Broken Mirrors

Broken Mirrors

Screen Reviews

Marleen Gorris’s first theatrical feature is a potent feminist look at the easily disposable lives of sex workers in Amsterdam. Phil Bailey reviews Broken Mirrors.

%d bloggers like this: