- advertisement -

RAT ROD
Four On The Floor
Shock Records/Vanity Music Group
http://www.ratrodrocks.com

RAT ROD, the band comprised of father and son guitarists Mark and Brice McCarty, singer Mike Smith, bassist LJ and drummer Harry Rosa, originally unleashed their third studio album Four On The Floor in the latter part of 2022 but with Vanity Music Group giving the album a reissue, it seems the time is perfect to give my own thoughts on it.

The hard rocking quintet certainly wastes little time in getting down to business. The quickest description of the band's sound would be to say they sound a bit like AC/DC, especially when Mike Smith's vocals come into play. You hear his vocals and you are reminded of Bon Scott. And while that may be the easy description, it is definitely made in a complimentary fashion because I really liked what I was hearing on Four On The Floor.

The album's opening track "Cars, Guitars And Rock-N-Roll" gets your heart pumping and you find yourself swept up in the down and dirty rocking and rollicking music right from the start. The opening number is fueled by quite a speedy tempo and much like the track's opening moments, it has a start your engines kind of feel to it.

Eschewing anything resembling a ballad, the album is chock full of any number of high energy and hard rocking songs.

Cuts like "All Or Nothing" have quite the anthemic feel to it with the in-your-face nature of the chorus. But then you have a song like "Hella Ride" which establishes itself quickly as a rocking number with a great groove feel to it as well.

There's a feeling of inexhaustible fire to so many of the tracks that it's not an exaggeration to say my energy level and heart rate was pegged to 10 throughout the album.

You've got the bar-room boogie rocker "Stole My Soul" (probably my favorite track on the album) feeding into the boot-stomping rocker "Motherload" which reminded me so much of AC/DC's "The Jack" and yet still has it's own original charm.

But when the band closes out an album with four successive fast-burning and hard-charging tracks that leave you feeling like you are just being hit with one sonic wave after another, how can you not enjoy what RAT ROD has to offer?

The song "Not Your Fool Anymore" is another personal favorite as it hits you like a punch in the face. "Resurrected" features a blazing musical score and when you team it up with the fiery "Speed of Light", you've got one hell of a 1-2 combination.

The album then closes out with an explosive balls-out song called "Knock 'em Down". It will leave you feeling momentarily rung out...before you reach over to hit the repeat button on your player!

RAT ROD is a band that was completely new to me when I received the CD. I wasn't sure what to expect going in. But what I found is that, much like singer Mike Smith sings in the song "Motherload", the band has both the piss and the vinegar that lets them make Four On The Floor one hell of an underrated rock and roll gem that you are going to want to listen to...a lot!

4.7 Out Of 5.0