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Come In and Burn
Rollins Band
A CD Review |
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Listenability Scale |
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75% |
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| A Review by |
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Stu
Gotz |
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It's been a couple of years since my huge necked
friend Henry Rollins and his band put some new stuff out. He did
some heavy touring support for his last CD, "Weight," and
even did a spoken word stint. For those of you that missed it, shame
on you, Henry even put out a book which chronicled his life in Black
Flag. It was a classic and Henry even read for it in its tape and CD
format. The title was "Get In The Van." Look for it! So
needless to say I guess the guy has been busy so I'll cut him a
break.
Well folks, Henry is rested and back in our face with his band's
newest album "Come In And Burn." I gave this CD a good
listen over two weeks and found some high notes and some low notes.
Pretty much like all of his past work the new CD is filled with dark
and emotional lyrics, but compared to his last CD,
"Weight," Rollins Band's new work tended to be a little
less hard and actually a couple of tracks are kind of
"funk" instead of "punk." This is a true
departure and I like it a lot!
For me the tracks broke down like this:
| Shame: |
Musically it starts off a little
scary, kind of like Halloween or Night Gallery Music, but then
turns into classic Henry and Rollins Band. That is to say
there is no musical genius behind the score - just your basic
repeated riffs set to dark words. You know... classic Henry. |
| Starve: |
This is what I would call Classic
Two-Part Henry. Musically it's simple and goes through two
tempo changes. So it's the type of song you just shake your
head to in the mosh pit and then when the tempo changes you
kick it up! |
| All I Want: |
This is about as funky as Henry
gets. If it were not for Henry's distinctive voice it could
almost pass its self off as a Red Hot Chili Peppers Song. I
liked this songs slow tempo'd funky grove. Plus, lyrically I
can identify with it. I'm sure you will too. |
| The End Of Something: |
A dark song both musically and
lyrically. It would be perfect for a David Lynch or Steven
King movie. |
| On My Way to the Cage: |
Bang your head and kick some mosh
pit ass. This song is all adrenaline!!! I can see the kiddies
hurting themselves to this song. |
| Thursday Afternoon: |
Initially this song did nothing
for me, but the more I listened to it slowly grew on me.
Hmm... As of this writing the jury is still out on this track. |
| During A City: |
Just deep word here and nothing
special really going on musically. The CD tracks are slowly
starting to loose their edge. |
| Neon: |
Again, classic Rollins Band. Deep
haunting words set to simple music. |
| Spilling Over The Side: |
That funky edge that could pass
it's self off as a Peppers song is back. Again, I like the new
funky music! |
| Inhale Exhale: |
Another scary song! Henry, stop
eating pepperoni pizza before bedtime and writing the morning
after. You should get together with Trent Reznor and see what
the two of you could do after a pizza night. Yikes! |
| Saying Goodbye Again: |
This is a pretty cool song.
Actually, if it were played at twice it's current tempo it
would be a classic "piss bag throwing" punk song! |
| Rejection: |
Rollins Band wraps this session
with that funky edge he's found. I like that a lot! This is a
cool grove song. |
Like I said, I gave "Come in and Burn" a good long hard
listen and found it to be to my liking. There's a lot of classic
Rollins Band tunes mixed in with his new funky flavor so I'd rate
this CD a 75% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale.
Unfortunately, on the CD, I didn't find that one "hook"
song that would make the CD a hit and wind up on the radio. None the
less I think it's worth giving a listen and adding to your
collection. |
