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Monster Truck Rocks out With Furiosity

By Seth M

Monster Truckq

I am a shithead at times, I admit it. I’ve seen an email or two over the last couple of months with the words “Monster Truck” in the subject line and never even realized the messages were about a band. Yes, chalk one up on the stupid board for me but I get so many emails sometimes I can’t even deal with opening them and with no interest in actual monster trucks I didn’t realize Monster Truck is actually a kick ass band..

Recently, after I’d covered something else for him, their publicist told me that Monster Truck was coming to New York, did I want to check them out ~ and the light bulb went off!  He sent me the album and I am listening to it for the 2nd time right now…and I’m damn glad he did.

Old School meets New School Straight Forward Rock n Roll is what I am dubbing this album. You want to hear a little Chris Cornell-type vocals with the energy of AC/DC, some Zeppelin-type riffs and a little ZZ Top Southern Rock swagger thrown in for good meaure?  Then check these boys out. Of course if you really have a need to put them in with new school bands, I’d say put them in the same room as Audioslave, Theory of a Deadman, and Alterbridge. In other words ~ they are in good musical company across the board.

Monster FuriositySo let’s talk a little about the album ~ Furiosity ~ and its 12 tracks:

Old Train

The Lion

Power of the People

Sweet Mount River

Psychics

Oh Lord

For the Sun

Boogie

Undercover Love

The Giant

Call it a Spade

The album, with a 45 minute run time ~ kicks of with “Old Train” barreling down the tracks, whistle and all; this one gives you a preview of the rock ride ahead and drives straight into “The Lion.” Both “The Lion” and “Power of the People” let you hear each of the band members shine and both these tracks have a great bluesy groove.

Although still similar in style, “Sweet Mountain River” has a big chorus and an old school guitar riff. If you’re going to check out just one song to see what I am talking about I’d suggest checking out this one or “Psychics,” a fast-paced, guitar infused track that will have you bobbing your head without even realizing it.

At this point, I thought Monster Truck was great, but the songs all sounded relatively similar ~ and then “Oh Lord”” and “For the Sun” hit my ears. “Oh Lord” begins with the driving rhythms of the other songs but then becomes more of an exchange between vocals and guitars feeding into a strong chorus while “For the Sun” totally slows into a straight-forward blues song; they’re total classic rock an reminded me of bands like Mountain, Bad Company, and ~ of course ~ the mighty Zeppelin. “Boogie” does its title proud, taking you right back to the hard driving, bluesy rock that will get you off your feet and moving, and “Undercover Love” will keep you there.

“The Giant” is the one song that didn’t seem to fit on the album. That’s not to say it’s a bad song ~ because it’s not ~ it just seemed like a departure from the style of the rest of Furiosity. On the positive side, it’s a strong track and shows that Monster Truck can mix it up, it’s just kind of odd that they would only have one track like this then jump right back in with “Call it a Spade.”

“My Love is True” closes out Furiosity and ends the album on a perfect note. It’s a slowed down old school southern rock song with some kick ass guitars, a full blow chorus with a soulful choir of backing female vocals kicking in.

Win JuneI gotta say, if you’re a rock fan, southern rock fan, and blues fan ~ or any combination thereof ~ you are probably going to dig this album a lot…and yes, I did let their publicist know that I absolutely want to see them live, as you will!.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they won a Juno (like a Canadian Grammy for those of you who don’t keep up with the Canadian Music Awards scene!) for 2012 Breakthrough Group of the Year, and it’s easy to see why.

Check them out at ilovemonstertruck.com and facebook.com/ilovemonstertruck.