DOWN & DIRTY – Down To The Wire

Shane | 3 October 2013 | Reply

Independent, 2013
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8.5/10

The lyric “Life Ain’t Nothin’ But The Chances You Take” opens the new Down & Dirty album fittingly, seeing as these Chicago lads are taking the bull by the horns and carving quite the name for themselves on the hard rock scene.

By track two, Everythings Shakin’, it’s apparent that the foursome have moved on in leaps and bounds since their enthusiastic but generic 2009 demo Live Fast, which 100% ROCK MAG caught in Tulsa, Oklahoma for that year’s Rocklahoma Festival.

The boys were only in there teens at that stage, and by 2011’s debut album A Taste Of Rock n’ Roll – a favourite to this day – the still-young band delivered an excellent set of sleazy rock that nodded towards their influences while showing they had something to set themselves apart from the pack.

Down to The Wire sees the band sounding more individual by far, with extra texture to songs like Devil Inside and Man Of The Times. Rain is a gorgeous ballad that shows it’s not all sex n’ booze n’ rock n’ roll for these guys, while Liquid Romance and Diamonds point at the path that should pay them dividends in the future.

A throbbing version of Blues standard Trouble shows they can groove up the blues with sass and fun, while closer Wicked Attitude is probably the most heads down, balls out rocker on the album.

Don’t switch off yet, though, as “hidden” track The Bottom Line is a cool little acoustic track which sounds like it was recorded late in a hotel room, and it’s a real rock n’ roll tale of dedication and commitment.

Down & Dirty are a fine rock n’ roll band who have a way with melody and atmospherics, all without losing any hard rocking power and groove. They’re on the up, so if you’ve been unfortunate enough to miss them up to this point, it is definitely time for you to jump on board.

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