Throttlerod - Hell And High Water

  by Andrew Carver

published: 11 / 11 / 2003

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Offering another permutation on the ever-popular “Southern Rock” genre, Throttlerod punch up the guitars into a blizzard of crushing riffs. The band’s dual-guitar attack is a fearsome thing — the heavy-duty sonic crunch would fit quite nicely on a Corrosion of Conformity record, and digs a Grand Canyon-sized groove. Singer-guitarist Matt Whitehead’s singing voice is dry, but capable; things become more interesting when Whitehead puts on his songwriting cap.  The duelling themes of treachery and loyalty run through the album’s 12 tracks. Even leadoff 'Marigold', despite its innocuous title, would seem to be about the destructive nature of bloodties, or relationships ... or something. The songs’ actual intent may be shrouded, but one always gets the impression that Whitehead is singing about something that matters to him, instead of rehashing songwriting cliches. Among its other virtues, 'Hell And High Water' is also a very well-sequenced album; an acoustic tune, 'Been Wrong'  provides a bit of a breather from the musical side, though lyrically it’s as dark and intense as anything else on the album, just before “In The Flood”, one of the album’s highlights, comes crashing out of the speakers after  with some burning call-and-response lead guitar by Bo Leslie and some thumping drums from Kevin White. 'Hell And High Water' is a hardhitting album on all levels — it actually deserves its title.

Track Listing:-

1 Marigold
2 Sucker Punch
3 Tomorrow And A Loaded Gun
4 No Damn Fool
5 Been Wrong
6 In The Flood
7 Whistlin' Dixie
8 Snake Into Angel
9 On The Mountain
10 Across Town
11 Mariana
12 Honest Joe

Label Links:-

http://smallstone.com/
https://twitter.com/ssrecordings
https://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/SmallStoneRecords
https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/

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