The Explosion

Black Tape (Virgin)
by Ewan Wadharmi

The Rebel Billionaires at Virgin have, in their infinite wisdom, instituted many security features in their promotional materials to discourage piracy. Including, but not limited to, stamping my editor’s name on the disc itself, and watermarking the digital information to make it traceable to said party. I could conceivably get Hefflon into a world of legal trouble. But Richard Branson and Scott Hefflon needn’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of passing this stuff off on any unsuspecting consumers. Rest assured, it will be disposed of properly (by a crack-team of explosives technicians).

What we have is a group of people who like the idea and the image of punk; but rather than listen to it themselves, they’ve indulged in Poison, Mötley Crüe, and Def Leppard (or whatever the current equivalent is). But blues metal nonetheless. Being reasonably talented musicians, they do a decent enough job of it, so if you like that sort of thing and have no girlfriend, then dig in. Hell, Skid Row thought they were punk too. But if monotonous vocals and repetitive lyrics stuffed haphazardly into measures where they don’t fit aren’t your thing, pass on by. While the name The Explosion wrongfully implies that they’re the bomb, they’ve certainly succeeded in releasing one.
(www.virginrecords.com)