Title: What's Inside
Date of Release: 2015
Record Label: Gundriver Records (self release)
Genre: Hard Rock
Website: http://www.gundriver.com/
Reviewed by: Geoff McGraw
Track listings: 1. Rip It 2. What's Inside 3. Make Her Mine 4. Rage 5.Trapt 6. Rockin' 7. Let Me Rock You 8. Battlezone 9. Before The Sun
Gundriver is a classic blues based hard rock band band in the vein of AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, and more recently Airbourne. Throw in just a touch of the 80's hair band scene and a single track that hails from the doom laden sound of Black Sabbath and you have Gundriver's sound.
A power trio comprised of founding guitarist Tom Potter, Alex Rivas on Drums, and Crazy Tomes on Bass and Vocals, Gundriver most likely plays very well in a live venue. There are some driving riffs and blues based soloing that is the trademark of the genre, as well as a front man who's vocals are rough and ready and calls to mind the late Bon Scott.
Lyrically Gundriver treads the well worn path of sex, drugs, and rock and roll without a lot of inventiveness, and lacks the tongue in cheek humor that make the likes of AC/DC must haves. Retread titles like Rip It, Make Her Mine, Rockin', and Let Me Rock You make up most of the 9 tracks.
The standout track for me was the Closing track, Before The Sun. A doomy tack with spoken word lyrics that recall a Phil Anselmo spoken performance. Unfortunately the discs production seems to stand in the way of what could have been a much better album. Instrument levels seem to be relatively flat and are easily overwhelmed by the vocal performance, it took some effort to listen to the actual music in combination with the vocal tracks. When Tomes is singing, the rest of the song gets pushed to the side, which all in all makes for less than inspiring album.
As I said before, these songs probably play very well in a live setting, but the album itself is a less than stellar representation of the potential power that the band has.
\m/ 5 \m/
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