The title to this record says a bunch: an attempt to wrest gold from a base of rock’n’roll tin or copper. It reminds me a lot of Quicksand—hard-driving thump rock with an arty edge to it. However, such a sound can easily border on the banal, and this is no exception. About a third of the tunes are truly interesting, about a third are kind of dull and repetitious, and the other third are half good/ half not. So, musically, I give it a hesitant thumbs up. The lyrics have some neat imagery, but for the most part, strike me as kinda contrived and too overtly poetic, as if there’s too much effort to create weird originality in the words. Final report: not bad, but this record is simply lacking that something extra at this point. All the parts are there for a good record, but it just doesn’t add up that way right now.
–Eric Carlson (Piermont)