Follow The Pretty Reckless To a Skull Crunching Thing of Beauty

Flavors...choices...make day to day life interesting. The Pretty Reckless do a tremendous job giving the heavy metal inclined options by strapping on their guitars and belting out "Follow Me Down". If you want your guitars extra crunchy this crew will not disappoint you. If subdued suits you better the chorus portion holds back on the reins while keeping the intensity white hot to the point of creating an inferno. If you wish to pursue something along the lines of a deranged inmate, then the guitars pull back immediately. Taylor Momsen lets fly with her most snarling vocal display to date. Ben Phillips gets credit for how sharp edged the guitars become. He loads us in his truck and takes us on a spine melting ride that doesn't no any equals. Meanwhile Mark Damon's bass licks are melt in your mouth incredible. Jamie Perkins kicks the drums into high gear right off the bat. His relentlessness puts any doubters on notice that he's the master of his domain. He and Ben feed off each other's psychotic pent up aggression. What a bonus for the rest of us. A great deal of hard rock comes down to a release. I don't care what walk of life you come from. To have that release as a pressure reduction valve amounts to a gift that you could never in a zillion years put a price tag on. "Follow Me Down" fills the bill. As is also the case in hard rock the pacing doesn't hang around waiting for sissies to decide whether they want to board the train or not. Viciousness from top to bottom fuels the engine. Another strong selling point, at least for me, comes from how the way the guitar is incorporated into the overall framework of the song's shape shifting attitude. Let me clarify for you all. The lyrical tale of the tape opens with: "Since I met you I've been crazy." Ben plows into the guitar like a man who has various screws either loose or in the process of coming loose. Taylor's ongoing query of "Have I lost my mind?" matches Ben's octane chord for chord. Then we're going off onto the dirt road side street for "Follow me down to the river. Drink while the water is clean. The acoustic perspective sizes up nicely. Acoustic is stripped of guitar's tendency to get the listener in an off guard crouch. I'm in favor of the swamp swing acoustic adds to this mix. Water purifies or, at least at its best it ought to. Soon enough Taylor's vowing to be on her knees by the river. A touch of ritual cleansing works well with unaffected acoustic guitar. Later on in the song Taylor lets her inner spooks out for some much needed air. She mentions that as a youngster you take what you can get. Whether this is a Sybil complex talking I can't be sure but we get a peek into this vocalist's fractured psyche. She knows now that there's a different way to die. One suspects the man in her life who has been driving her crazy plays a big part in that equation. In this uneasy twosome she can in fact have a beating heart but not be alive. What's not to root for? Taylor's on the ledge. We cross fingers that a positive influence will make its way to her in short order. Invest some time in this bruising scorcher lifted from "Going To Hell". Follow Me Down" stakes its claim as a compelling reason why the New York hard rock collection proves itself worthy of an expanded following.