RADIO CULT – Grooves From The Grave

Let’s get to know the young US band Radio Cult. They originated in 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia with, for now, a very solid goal which is the revival of classic songs from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. This revival contains a variety of Punk, Rock, Metal and Pop songs from those years. Until the present the band released 3 albums on the indie label Genterine Records and lately they released an original piece, which is called “Grooves From The Grave” for the soundtrack of a Horror movie. The band’s genre is pretty mixed; they combine Hard Rock / Glam Rock with a taste of Metal to it but not too rough. Their third album Grooves From The Grave continues their revival of classics from past years.

Overall the choices of the songs on Grooves From The Grave is pretty good. This time covering, mainly, the darker side of music with Metal bands such as Motorhead, Iron Maiden, White Zombie, Black Sabbath. Punk and Alternative bands such as Rage Against The Machine, Bad Religion, Sex Pistols, Ramones and also The Glam Metal band Kiss.

The band’s combination of genres can easily be accepted by fans of Pop, Hard Rock, Punk and even Heavy Metal. Overall, the band’s music sounds nice and it seems that the band is well experienced and everyone knows his place. But, the production of the album is pretty weak. For example: on the song “21st Century Digital Boy”, a cover for the Punk Rock band Bad Religion , the drums sound like the sampler LM – 7 from the program Cubase 3.0 , in addition there is the mastering problem; the bass player has the highest volume in the album , even more louder than the drummer , and it shouldn’t be that way. The guitars have a good sound, but they should be a bit louder as well.

This album combines both male and female vocals, there is no lead vocalist. Some of the songs are sung by the guitarist Bambi Lynn, who is also one of the Dean Guitars promoters, and some by Rickey Zero , the bass player. On the songs that Bambi sings there is a lack of feeling and a touch of sexiness that her character presents. For example, let’s go back to “21st Century Digital Boy”, her singing sounds tired without any motivation, like she is forced to sing it. Another example of one of her songs is “Killing In The Name Of” , a cover for the Alternative band Rage Against The Machine. Bambi starts it pretty good with a lot of anger , like It should be in this angry song, until it reaches the famous line “…now you do like they told ya”. In this line the song gets angrier, but Bambi is not getting any angrier, she sounds more balanced than angry. In comparison to the end of the song with the line “…Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me” Bambi, finally, shows how mad she really is, but it should have been earlier.

Another weak spot for Bambi is in the song “The Trooper”, a cover for Iron Maiden. She shows that she isn’t fit to sing this kind of classic although she really puts effort into it. A strong spot for Bambi is on the song “N.I.B”, a cover for Black Sabbath. Bambi is doing well, in some parts she sounds like Joan Jett and Chrisse Hynde from the Pop band The Pretenders and gives a good Sabbath’s early 70’s feeling. Bambi’s best work on the album is on the cover for Kiss, “Detroit Rock City” in which she really rocks with a feminine Paul Stanley style.

Rickey Zero on most of the songs shows great promise, especially on songs like “Ace Of Spades” , a cover for Motorhead and in White Zombie’s “Thunder Kiss 65’”. He combines styles of well done, clean vocals with a crooked voice in a Punky way. The guy’s weak spot is on the Sex Pistol’s “Anarchy In The U.K”. The guy tries to sound like Johnny Rotten and does not succeed in doing so. In comparison, when Megadeth covered this song in 1988, Dave Mustaine didn’t try to sound like someone else. The same should be for Radio Cult’s male vocalist.

The tracks in the album are solid. The band has to give these past gems more life. On some parts the songs sound like they, or the band, are worn out and left to dry. Although, with this problem there are some standouts. Songs like “Detroit Rock City” and “N.I.B” that come with a good Bambi feel. “The Trooper”, musically is played very good but there still is trouble, combining it with the vocals, for everyone who is a fan of Bruce Dickinson. “Ace Of Spades” and “Thunder Kiss 65’” show great potential with the addition of Rickey Zero’s vocals and their performance is excellent. The most weak spot of the album is the only original track, “Shoot The Dead”. An average song which keeps on repeating itself, but has dark lyrics and a nice psychedelic feel.

In general, Grooves From The Grave has something to offer for all the “cover lovers” and gives some feeling of the old days. Radio Cult, have and will have a lot to offer the music world by doing the divine work of covering the past and roots that shouldn’t be forgotten, also surely they will come up with their own material, that with all their influences, will be a very interesting listen.