Review: 42 Decibel – Rolling In Town

Steamhammer / SPV (2015)

Reviewer: Dan Mann

42 Decibel hail from South America, Argentina to be precise and first made their mark on the music world with their 2013 release ‘Hard Rock’n’Roll‘

Well they’re back with ‘Rolling In Town‘ and what a rip roaring sweat and bourbon infused release it is too.

For those of you unfamiliar with the band, first impressions as soon as you hear the opener ‘Can’t Keep Control‘ is yet another AC/DC clone! Now that ain’t a bad thing as let’s face it AC/DC have done quite well out of what they do. But, this doesn’t tell the whole story, far from it. Delving into track two ‘Rude And Fast‘ it’s certainly fast, with a raw edge to it. Not crude or uncontrolled but how the heavier end of blues rock needs to be.

‘Drop Of Booze‘ follows and kind of reminds me of Junkyard but with slide guitar. Speaking of slide, a glorious southern rock style slide opens ‘Burning Down The Road‘ and reveals a real foot stomper of a track. ‘Eye Of The Hawk‘ is Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rose Tattoo and a hint of Michael Katon all rolled into one killer blues/boogie song.

And we’re already up to track 7! ‘Down The Hatch‘ is really kinda self explanatory as to the subject matter. Yes you’ve guessed it, it’s a little ditty about drinking and conveys you to one of those character filled bars with the house band giving it their all. ‘Midnight Teaser (Evil Woman)‘ while still having those previously mentioned influences also has some elements of punk to the vocals. That really shouldn’t work but in this instance it works a treat.

A nice slow blues intro to ‘Cold Steel Rider‘, slowly building and building with the drum beat kicking up a notch after just over a minute and southern rock style guitar playing filling in as still it builds, the vocals not starting until a full two and a half minutes in. We finally reach the seven minute mark exhausted but thoroughly entertained.

And so we round things up with ‘Smooth Talker‘, which starts with a jazz style vibe, you can picture someone on a double bass, pulling on those strings. A slow song but with plenty of feeling and very cool.

To round up then. Fans of Southern rock/boogie/blues, call it what you want, will thoroughly enjoy this release.