AUTOGRAPH – Get Off Your Ass

“Throw up your hands, scream and shout, get your ass up and shake it all about.” Those aren’t lyrics from “Get Off Your Ass” from Autograph’s Get Off Your Ass, but they’re weak enough to be. The title track has high powered riffs enough to overcome its brain stem lyrics but unfortunately, it can’t carry the load for the album.

After the title track, the musical quality and lyrics precipitously nose dive. It’s worse with an often substandard mix and uninspired vocals. The second song, “Every Generation”, is a muddy, riff-less drone punctuated by vapid lyrical lament whining “…it’s just another generation…” In stereotypical fashion, a power ballad “All I Own” follows with acoustic guitar flourishes and recycled trite lyrics “…you are the love of my life…” and “…I can’t go on without you…”. If your patience is still intact, the remainder of the album is a study in contrast. Uninspired, uncreative vocals punctuate blasts of guitar. The album mix swings from one extreme to the other; vocals versus guitar. The last studio track “Ready To Get Down” is a shamelessly trite journey seemingly lifted from every Party Metal song ever written. Lyrical gems like “Party up with the band”, “Are you ready to get down?”, “Nothing can stop us now”, and “Gonna burn it to the ground” are connected with enough “Whoa, whoa’s” to stop a wagon train. The closing track is a live version of “Turn Up The Radio” mixed with too much crowd noise and an underpowered drum track.

If you were wondering if Autograph had anything left to say, the answer would be ‘not much.’ The title track is a keeper, but the remainder of Get Off Your Ass is only recommended for those with boundless curiosity.

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