MONSTER MAGNET 4-Way Diablo (2007)
15 October 2007
Hats down, horns up! Dave Wyndorf returns with his team of heroic Monster Magnet rockers! And, as always, they don’t play games.
A soft and sloppy riff with associations to the Iggy Pop classic “The Passenger” and the title track give the start of “4-Way Diablo”. Then all hell breaks loose to take our souls, because, as we all know, rock'n'roll is a diabolical creation. And there’s plenty of rock in here. And devils. Here are four of them: Dave Wyndorf, Ed Mundell, Jim Baglino and Bob Pantella. They play, enchant, turn your head and make you jump, sing and headbang. It’s a devilish job...
The devilries do not end here. Monster Magnet have decided to pay tribute to the eternal ones who pay sympathy for the devil, Rolling Stones, with a cover of “2000 Light Years From Home”, which by accident is originally in their 1967 album, kindly titled “Their Satanic Majesties Request”. Even the cover of the CD is horny.
And you will hardly get the idea of the music if you haven’t ever listened to Monster Magnet. Their rock'n'roll bears the specific spirit of the USA, but without being California-polished, nor southern. It is more like swaggering-desert-like. The performance and the mood of the tracks is cocky, provoking, filled with smell of leather jackets and the compulsiveness of a look behind dark glasses. And they are fair enough to make you believe, “Blow Your Mind” will really blow your brain out, “Cyclon” will lift you among the heavy leaded clouds pierced by the sun rays, and “Wall of Fire” is loaded with the real danger to set your balls on fire with testosterone fuel. In the CD there isn’t a song that has not got its own signature, nevertheless it is study rock'n'roll, a psychedelic memory of the stronger covered in their earlier works space rock, or epic trips like “A Thousand Stars”. Only this lack of the strong space charge is some kind of a shortcoming; this time the guys have counted on more direct rock way to express. But even without being the best record of the band, “4-Way Diablo” is a worthy album which will give you enough rock emotions. So kick up the starter, blow the speakers and let’s go!