Born a Lion
Born a Lion is a fierce mother of an album, fairly exploding with crunching riffs and thunderous rhythms. Sure, the lyrics may be a bit ham-fisted, but with music this aggressive and cocky, that almost seem necessary. Guitarist/vocalist Danko Jones fancies himself a rock & roll outlaw, the illegitimate spawn of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott, raised on a steady diet of 1970s hard rock and punk. His bare-bones, knuckle-dragging brand of hard rock is, in fact, mostly about attitude, combining the solid three-chord crunch of AC/DC with the furious MC5-informed attack of Sweden's Hellacopters. He and his cohorts--bassist John Calabrese and drummer Damon Richardson--bully their way through 11 bruising cuts, never pausing for anything more than a brief musical breakdown to let Jones testify (a la the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion). It's a solid formula that they seem unwilling to tamper with much, and why should they? If it works well on the opening "Play the Blues," it'll be just as good on the closing "Love is Unkind." Yep, above everything else, Born a Lion is a consistent album from start to finish, and while not exactly fresh sounding, for 30-plus minutes it kicks some serious ass. --Adem Tepedelen