Album Details

• Artist: Joetown
• Album: Pills And Ammo
• Label: N/A
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2009-05-08

If anything can be said about Joe Delaney and his pet project Joetown, it's that the influences contained within their collective sound-sphere are like a history lesson of hard rock. From the days of Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent and Van Halen into the hair-metal ruckus of Motley Crue, Poison and W.A.S.P., into modern grunge such as Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. Even a little Rob Zombie mystique thrown in. All comparisons aside, Pills and Ammo, Joetown's debut, is an excellently-written and performed jaunt of heavy rock and roll, dripping with sleaze and grime, and not without it's emotional peaks and crests. Sometimes it's the albums that come at you without warning that end up blindsiding you in the best of ways.

The vocoder effects opening "Hole in my Soul" will have you thinking Frampton, before the anthemic guitar and ear-grasping bass have you feeling G'n'R all over again. Joe's vocals are perhaps the most diverse part of the band as he shifts from territories reminding one of Weiland, Rose, Hagar, Neil (Vince), Cooper, Zombie, etc. His range and passion work against the somewhat pedestrian lyrics and help get the message across on their own. The groove-ladened "Finger" is Zeppelin-esque in it's riffs and tempos. A song that'll really get the blood pumping is "Crash", a head-banging firestarter with some big, bombastic vocals. Where Joe shows his softer, more singer-songwriter style is on the ballad-ish "American Alter", who's lyrics are ambiguous at best but the chorus instantly sticks in your head and won't let go. His guitar work here and throughout the record is also practiced, precise and damn near perfect at times. "L.A. Tuning" is more of this type, but much more softly-spun and subtle. Bluesy, even. Stick around until closer "My Anger Knows No Bounds" rips you a new one.

All praise aside, this album's biggest short-coming is it's reliance on it's influences to project it's demeanor and decisions. It's basically a nostalgia-trip, but it cannot be faulted much for this unless you are of the utmost-jaded hard-rock-haters. If you've ever considered yourself a fan of heavy music of any sort, and aren't afraid of the word "rock", you owe it to yourself to check this album out. 

User Reviews and Comments

on 2008-11-11 devilgurl Said:

I listened to the 3 songs on their website...their myspace player was malfunctioning....
Joetown is a pretty good band...can hear a G-n-R/Soundgarden influences...
Rating: 7/10