DE LA CRUZ – Street Level

Shane | 30 May 2013 | Reply

Label: Frontiers Records
Released March 2013
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7.5/10

Originally published in Xpress Magazine 22 May 2013

Not everyone cares about the uber-hyped Daft Punk release this month: Gold Coast hair metal quintuplet De La Cruz drop their shredding debut Street Level for prestigious European label Frontiers Records, and for 45 glorious minutes you can pretend that thrash, death metal, grunge, electro, pop punk and modern dance music never even existed.

These guys first came to attention by recording and giving away their debut EP through their website, and claiming a horde of fans in the process. Make no mistake: 80’s rock and metal is bigger business now than at any time since its heyday.

That self titled EP had more keyboards than Street Level, but apart from that the sound is identical: huge anthemic choruses that will almost rip your stonewashed denim, melodies that’ll warrant a visit to the dentist such is their sweetness, and stadium-sized rock from go to woe.

Through these twelve unapologetically sex, sun, booze and hair-spray drenched cock rockers Roxxi, Casey, Rory, Lacey and, um, Grant channel Def Leppard primarily, a little of Motley Crue’s sleaze, and a host of lesser-remembered Eighties chart-botherers (Danger Danger, Bulletboys or Every Mother’s Nightmare, anyone?).

The future seems assured for De La Cruz: head to Europe and North America, where this sort of thing is still hugely popular, tour their torn-denim-clad butts off, and make a name for themselves with the support of classic rock radio and media, which Australia doesn’t offer. Good luck to ‘em – they deserve it, and I daresay that when they forge a slightly more individual character on album number two, we’ll all be in for a real treat.

https://www.facebook.com/DeLaCruzAustralia

www.delacruzofficial.com