COBRA RYE SHOWS NO MERCY!

Batten down the hatches and shiver your timbers! Rye Coalition is about to plunder your high seas with their latest release, On Top (Tiger Style Records). This album Leaping Crane techniques its way through ten tracks of eye-spitting, elbow-snapping, white-boy-stomping action, Daniel Russo-style! The Coalition gets their crunchy guitar rock on, with tracks like “Switchblade Sister: One Tough Nun” and “Honky, Please”. You’ll be reeking havoc aplenty with the crowd-rousing, chant-insisting chorus of “Hot Strikes”. And there’s a fair amount of tempo twists and bloody tampon change-ups to keep most avid rockers pretty happy. Fast-paced as it is, the only real lull of On Top comes from “Freshly Frankness”. This Tom Waits-esque ballad is a slow crooner of a song, and just kinda throws the album’s rhythm completely off. I understand and appreciate what the band is trying to do by putting something different in the mix. Still, the song just seems out of place amidst all the ape shit that’s being launched around it. Plus, if I really wanted to hear a Tom Waits-ish song, I’d just put on a Tom Waits album. Overall, though, On Top left me feeling like Mike Tyson’s bunkmate in prison-- soiled and bruised, but proud that I’d just been done by a champ. If you’d like to take a listen for yourself, visit tigerstylerecords.com. Note: From the looks of the promo-kit that came with this album, On Top came out back in April. So yeah, I’m not telling you about anything new. But hey,.. at least I’m telling you about something good.