Short On Leash And Still Running

LAMBS

Reviewed by Kaheli

One thing can be surely said about the Lindholm brothers, they are quite flexible when it comes to musical genres. Grab one or two and throw in some non-related musicians and you can end up with just about anything. Point in case, with LAMBS you’re served up a good old-fashioned dish of pure hard rock. No fancy effects, tricks or what-not nor any overly long repetitive songs that have you thinking you just heard this, didn’t you? These guys aren’t novices either when it comes to music. With their roots dating back to 1994, ‘Short On Leash and Still Running’ is their seventh release, provided I counted right… Good ol’ lucky number 7 .

Initially I began to review the album back after its release in February of this year but as with most things in life, I got sidetracked and consumed by other obligations. My first impression of the CD wasn’t that high. Don’t get me wrong, doesn’t mean I felt it was bad. It just didn’t seem to grab me by my imaginary balls in some kind of death lock grip but now, several months later, I’m asking myself why didn’t it? From ‘Broken Shoulder’ with its sweet-ass guitar riff, the snappy rhythm of ‘Pined Away’ with its contrast of background and main vocals towards the closing to grinding core of ‘Heart Of Stone’. Don’t get comfortable yet with the pure rock of it all just yet…there’s a little surprise awaiting you.

As ‘Second Best’ opens up, I’m forced to abandon all opinions that this is another pure hard rock album as I’m assaulted with an intro infused with sludge and doom. Before one can even settle into the droning atmosphere it slams right into a up-paced rhythm of ever-so-slight heavy handed guitars. I just knew the broad range of genres these guys are capable of had to come into play somewhere and indeed it has: ‘Settled For Life?’ hits upon yet another talent with its fast-paced speed of punk blended with the rumpus of rock and metal designed to keep your head and feet moving in sync with it.

Rounding out the last half of the album is probably my least favorite of all the tracks, ‘Peace For The Person, War For The World’. Can’t quite pin it down as to the whys of it but it just didn’t hit me anywhere while ‘Locked’ wins it hands down as one of my personal picks with its hard slamming drums, ripping guitars and a bass so in tuned with everyone else it’s practically impossible to distinguish it from the guitars. Superb.

Moving on towards the closer of the album we encounter ‘Shake Your Head’, another not-so-favorite of mine although it does possess some seriously good guitar and bass but outside of that, it fell short of the mark with me as did ‘Twilight Of The Dogs’. The plus side to ‘Twilight Of The Dogs’ was how reminiscent it was of late 70′s/early 80′s hard rock. Closing out ‘Short On Leash And Still Running’ is another favorite of mine, ‘Kill Screen’. An excellent choice for bringing this album to its end, it has all the right ingredients that bring a balance between all the instruments, vocals and lyrics. And with what has seemingly become the signature style on this album, a sweet little guitar riff about 2/3 of the way in. Seems no song is complete without having a few seconds of rip-roaring solo riffs throughout ‘Short On Leash And Still Running’.

Either my tastes have changed drastically over the six months since the album was released or I’ve finally cleared enough cobwebs from my mind and ears to thoroughly listen. Whichever it may be, I found the album as whole something worthy of listening to again and again. Definitely not a waste of anyone’s dollars, euros, pounds or even your free time.

Locked

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Our Rating:

8.25/10

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