Before even hearing them, I nominated Austrian band Proll Guns as Volbeat rip-off. You know; rock, cowboys, metal and moonshine..? Well, it turned out that this band aren't bandwagoning those Danes (and a Yankee). And that's only a good thing in my book, folks! And PG ain't like Disneyland After Dark (D-A-D you know?!) either.

They call their music as "rock'n'western roll metal". And just like Wild West was, PG offer dirty rocking stuff! Motörhead and especially Finnish band called Peer Günt come to my mind when spinning this album: Straight, hangover-sweaty and grainy hard rock. And the music's metal side is about grooving stoner metal (in vein of Orange Goblin or Alabama Thunderpussy, for example), plus Black Label Society, or even Pantera. Banjo and acoustic guitar in some of the songs gives this more of Wild West vibe. And very much US this all does sound like. Here one can hear anything from bluesy guitar licks to blast beats.

PG wasn't able to compose such catchy tunes as those two legendary bands (Motörhead and Peer Günt) mentioned first, though (the CCR cover easily stands up from the rest of the tracks). The songs aren't totally straightened-out rock compositions, but offer at least some welcome changes. Occasionally, listener gets hit into guts by trampled hooves by these bandits' horses, but hardly with lethal force. It's all played with heavy hands, and the production is earthy and pretty damn heavy, suiting well to this kind of music. Dry throat outlet by the vocalist gets dry soon, because it's not very varying, and it also gets annoying after a while.

Too much of stray bullets in songwriting department here, but if you want dirty'n'heavy rocking stuff and like the Wild West theme, then you should give 'Horseflesh BBQ' a spin. I really do believe there's better to come from Proll Guns, with more seasoning and tasty fat on the meat.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/28/2016 17:48