REVERSE GRIP – Hunger For Chaos

Shane | 12 October 2012 | Reply

Label: EsRever Records
Released: September 2012
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8.5/10

Toronto’s loudest brothers dropped a solid hard rockin’ EP called Nasty Reputation last year, and it found a decent audience with it’s 5 brash, snotty nosed sleazy rock n’ roll anthems.

This year the brothers Broda have upped the ante for their debut full-length Hunger For Chaos.

You can hear the fire in their belly from Sean Broda’s tasty blues licks that intro Enjoy The Chaos, right the way through to closer You’re Goin’ Down – the raw and snotty punkyness of that EP has given way to a more Guns n’ Roses sound throughout, without sacrificing any of the energy and power they are reknowned for.

Sold My Soul and Mirror Mirror are as catchy a pair of anthems as you could hope for in 2012, Midnight Fox and Dancin’ On A Bullet are head shaking, foot stompin’ rockers that will have the listener sweating buckets.

Drummer Dylan Broda is a powerhouse, unrelenting in his assault on his kit, while new bassist Kramer White nails down the beat and keeps the engine turning over. Singer Dru Broda skips the Axl Rose influences, going straight back to the source in Hanoi Rocks’ Michael Monroe, all dynamic howl and projected energy.

Tease Me is another scorching rocker that wouldn’t be out of place on Appetite For Destruction or a Backyard Babies album, with Sean Broda tearing his fingers apart on the strings with a shredding performance. On Looking To Score they indulge their metal side with a dynamite fuelled chant-driven ballbuster, and Quick & Dirty slaps anyone who hasn’t been converted by this point into submission. Album closer You’re Goin’ Down explores an Alice Cooper-does-punk vibe, rounding the album out nicely.

Where the EP sounded like a band who were desperately trying to find themselves – and perhaps trying a bit too hard – the layered, blues-sleaze sound of Hunger For Chaos finds them fully self-expressive and on fiery form.

On the strength of this album and their recent Japanese and Australian tours, they are only likely to get bigger and bigger – Hunger For Chaos is one of the unexpected treats of the year for any discerning hard rock fan.

http://www.facebook.com/reversegriprock

http://www.reversegriprock.com