It was all so simple before Black Sabbath came along. It was pretty easy to tell which heavy rock bands were seeking to beat crowds into submission and which were expecting credit for dynamics, melodies and at least a pretense of innovation. Then came Ozzy, Iommi, Geezer, and Ward to trample the line away with offensively loud drumming, super riffology and barking idiocy crossed with rustic acoustics, intricately ambitious compositions and words sprung from sources other than horror movies and superhero comics.
Flash forward to the American Northeast- Manchester, New Hampshire, present day. The region’s burgeoning hard rock scene comes in three varieties: ex-punks who worship Radiohead now, and ex-punks who just don’t give a fuck! While the third category produced the unpredictable tradition-busting carbon copies of Pearl Jam, rockers whose essential differences from classic metal have less to do with the sound of music than their distinctive senses of self and purpose. Radiohead wants to be the serious minded equal to its idol, while Pearl Jam strives to nullify the issue with compelling faith in its own individuality. Vegas Temper, the next wave of grunge retroids, blasting away at amps turned to 11, are not afraid to play dumbed down energy driven cock rock for the sake of, well, rocking the fuck out! This credo brings us listeners back to the original classic rock days, when song lyrics were about dumb love, unattainable inspiration via drug abuse, and saccharine immortality.
“Do you want to live forever? Do you want to live your life here... after everything is gone?”- lead vocalist Chris Taylor sings in the radio single- “Shotgun”, with honorable conviction, putting Pop integrity before poetry. It makes you wonder what this band would sound like if Taylor actually read Rimbaud or Baudelaire. But Vegas Temper’s minimalistic lyrics is not what this band is about. Guitarist- Marcus Paquette’s riffs are so cut throat and blacker than black, that I found myself pulling out my banged up copy of Alice in Chains’ “Dirt”, and actually loving it! Vegas Temper discovers a unique originality in the song- “Sick of saving you”, a track that easily could fool any Layne Staley impersonator into believing these songs are the lost Alice in Chains tapes, their Season in Hell (remember Eddie and the Cruisers) posthumous recordings.
Vegas Temper has the potential to be the next Stone Temple Pilots, with their anthemic choruses and hard hitting rhythm section, courtesy of Marky Morin and Keith Willey. I’d say take a chance on this band and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
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