Rough Edge: Blackie Wilcox CD Reviews

BLACKIE WILCOX

"Such a Shame" (Self-produced; 2008)

Reviewed by Metal Mark

Taking a risk or a gamble can be a good thing, but knowing your limitations can be helpful as well. Such as recording an album can be a bit of a risk and if you don't have the talent to pull it off then it seems a bit silly. That's close to what we have in this situation.

Well, let's go with the positives first because "Such a Shame" isn't without some merits. The guitars remind me of Alice Cooper perhaps mainly around the time of "Constrictor" from 1986. Every song starts out with a decent riff and most are mid-tempo, but fairly heavy. Also, the production overall on the disc is all right. The guitars could have come up some, but it's not bad for a self-produced album.

Unfortunately, now we have a serious reality check and it's time to face the unpleasant parts of this release. The vocals are ... well, they're bad and I mean bad in the sense that someone should have known better. It's like someone went to a bar on karaoke night and, after too many drinks, they got up and started trying to be a hard rock singer. But instead of sleeping it off and going back to his day job, lead singer Aaron Morales decided to record it. For some reason, the vocals seem to get all of the attention here because, once they start, the guitars get pushed too far into the background. There also needed to be more variation in the music because it is very repetitious. That's a shame because if there is any potential to this project then it's definitely in the guitars.

The overall sound tries to be kind of like a sleaze glam style, maybe a little like Diamond Rexx, but even rougher.

I am not saying that Blackie Wilcox should not have recorded "Such a Shame." However, they probably should have recorded it for themselves and then worked to improve on this material before sending it out to the public. Granted, they just formed this year so here's hoping they spend more time on working the bugs out before their next release.

Blackie Wilcox: Aaron Morales - lead vocals and guitar; Rob Clearfield - guitar and keyboards; Patrick Mulcahy - bass and backing vocals; Dennis Field - drums.

For more information, check out http://www.myspace.com/blackiewilcox.

Rating Guide:

A classic. This record will kick your ass.

Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.

So-so. You've heard better.

Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.

Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.

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