You’re a Stone God, so have some Hot Leg!!! (MUSIC REVIEW BY SCOTT OKEN)

I’ve been accused of musically being stuck in the past. That is true for the most part. I have been known to state that there is no good music after 1979. I actually adjusted that to 1989…I mean, I can’t leave out the Hair Metal years, can I? (Oh so British…ending sentences with a 2 word question, isn’t it?)

The 90s for me had some hit and miss Grunge and it’s related offshoots. The 00s have been utterly non-eventful for me…until around 2003. That’s when Permission To Land, by The Darkness came out. Yeah, it was throwback…but it was TABLE FLIPPING JAMS throwback! Then came One Way Ticket…To Hell and Back in 2005. Produced by former Queen guru Roy Thomas Baker! All Jams! Then shortly thereafter they broke up. Shit!!!!

Not to worry. They basically split up into 2 pretty good bands. Lead singer Justin Hawkins broke off to form Hot Leg, leaving his brother Dan Hawkins to grab another singer named Richie Edwards and form Stone Gods with the remaining members of The Darkness.

You can read up on both bands more specifically here and here.

I am here to review the 2 albums. Let us start with Hot Leg’s Red Light Fever. If you like the Darkness, you will like Hot Leg. This basically continues on from where The Darkness left off. Justin’s uber-falsetto vocals are as Relentless as Judd Nelson here. The opening track “Chickens” could have been on the last Darkness Album. Pretty much every song gives you that combo of Pop sensibility with that hard rock/borderline metal guitar driven jams. One of the more poppy tunes is the silly “Gay in the 80s” . Silly ass lyrics, but oh-so singable! Another loveable single is “I’ve met Jesus”, a song guaranteed to stick in your head, almost to the point of being annoying, but in a good way! One other thing I love about this lp, is the liberal use of guitar solos! Always a good thing! Another good jam is “Trojan Guitar” (yeah….Trojan™). That songs comes complete with silly voices! Basically if there are more than 3 really good songs on any given album, I deem it a “Get off your ass and buy it” lp (yes, I still use the term “LP” even though we download everything). OUR(OKen’s Ultimate Rating) 9/10.

Now on to the Stone God’s album entitled Silver Spoons and Broken Bones. Obviously without the distinct voice of Justin Hawkins, you are going to get something different here, and you do. This album can fool you. At first you might think that this is basically strict, by-the-numbers Heavy Metal, rooted in the 80s classic period, well, not so much the Hair Metal period, although there is some of that. The first cut “Burn the Witch” is a classic metal prototype song. You know…swords…flames…witches…etc. It’s a pretty good jam. A good Pop-Metal song on the lp is “You Brought a Knife to a Gun Fight”. It kind of comes from the AC/DC school of jams. Then there is “Where You Coming From” which could be a hit on any chart. There are some good ballads on here too. “Lazy Bones” is great, as is “Magdalene Street”. The former seems like it is possessed by the spirit of Johnny Rzeznik. The more I listened to this album the more I really, really started to love it. I conclude that you should get this album as well. OUR: 9/10.

See? I can like the new stuff once in a while!!!! Now go out, buy these albums, and bust all wooden furniture!!!