When local boys Blackout Jack asked me to review their new album, I was happy to oblige. They'd gotten my name from The Treats so it was little surprise for me to see two gents from that band listed in the liner notes.
What Happened Last Night is Blackout Jack's debut album and this is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it's fun to hear all the diverse influences present here but there are times when things sound too disparate - some songs just don't feel right sitting on the same album as each other.
"Grape" is a strong lead-off track with its muscular riffing. While the verses will get you thinking of "Monkey Man" by The Rolling Stones, the crazed soloing and general mayhem that closes the song won't. The jangly "Shoot Me Two Times" follows and just seems to be on the wrong album. Although "Ripped Kite" uses REM as a touchstone as well, guitarist James Koback turns up the fuzz on the choruses and so lends it some sonic unity with what the band does best.
And what they do best is not the disco with which drummer Alex Barrett opens "Muffdiver". The song ends a string of tracks which are stylistically all over the map: "Any Reason" has a pseudo-funky riff which turns back on itself; "Floating" is a bit of slow-burning psychedelia; and then there's "A Proposal" which is a 60s throwback drenched in reverb.
The album closes strongly, however. "Happy Death" is an instrumental which fuses Man Or Astro Man? with Koback's melodic soloing and "Fuzz Nuggets" is a thick, meaty slab of stoner rock with Koback's dense riffing and Rich Joiner's growling bass. I can't listen to this song without thinking of Black Sabbath because Barrett's drums sound like they were sampled from The Mob Rules. But fear not, he does Vinny Appice proud.
While What Happened Last Night isn't going to win any awards for being cohesive, there really isn't a clunker here and these guys definitely have the chops.
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