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Chicagoland power trio offers up a heady, heavy second platterSix Foot Model - Audio DNA(Mojo Cannon Music) 4 stars (out of 5 stars) Reviewed: Dec. 12, 2012 |
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Review by Holiday Girod It's rare that the first six seconds of a record can define so succinctly what's to come, but the pummeling, high-velocity drum riff that opens up Six Foot Model's second full-length effort, Audio DNA, does just that. It's like a brick of M-80s going off within inches of your face, only here you can't help but lean in even closer as the track unfolds into a full-throttled, hard-rocking sonic blast.This guitar-fueled, pedal-to-metal style of music works well for this Chicagoland-based power trio as they rip and roar through song after song that recalls some of the best classic rock, progressive metal and early alt-rock of the '70s, '80s and '90s. Comparisons may come easy, such as Stone Temple Pilots, Kings X, Soundgarden and Led Zeppelin, but that's because the threesome of Dennis Weber (vocals/guitars), Guy Bazilewich (bass) and Jimmy Wasson (drums) go beyond just wearing their influences on their sleeves, instead having them etched in day-glow ink on their forearms. This is most evident with their obvious homage to the mighty Zeppelin on the tracks "Head" (which lifts the heavy, shape-shifting riff from Zep's under-rated gem "The Wanton Song") and the ballad-cum-rocker "Believe" (which finds Weber injecting a spot-on cover of Jimmy Page's signature, scene-stealing guitar lead from "Stairway To Heaven" into the track for head-nodding approval). Despite paying huge respects to their hard-rocking forefathers, Six Foot Model, like their namesake, stands tall next to their modern contemporaries - delivering these self-penned tracks in their own inimitable style. On the track "Highway Joe" the trio traverse into a bluesier form of hard rock, which sways and swaggers with a groove-inspired rhythm as much as it does switch gears with complex time changes that hint at prog/math rock (imagine Robert Fripp, Van Halen and Rush at the Mississippi Crossroads and you're getting close). There's no doubt that Wasson and Bazilewich are a forceful, explosive and dynamic rhythm section to be reckoned with, but Weber proves to be the threesome's secret weapon. With not only an expressive and passionate command of his voice that pairs well with each respective track, his guitar work throughout is simply breathtaking - recalling the styles and sounds of so many famous guitar gods before him, such as Van Halen, Page, some of the jazzier, fluid elements of Jeff Beck (on the epic instrumental "Mulligan Stew), and, what's that?, do I even hear a bit of Uli Jon Roth's stinging Scorpion leads on the track "Sad Story"? Why, yes... I do. This is hard and driving rock that could revive a dead party like a pair of defibrillators slapped to the chest. If you wanna get your heart pumping again forget the gym and crank this sucker up. Loud. Six Foot Model's Audio DNA is available through iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/audio-dna/id577080750 and CD Baby http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sixfootmodel. |