Dirty Rig

Rock Did It (Escapi)
by Martin Popoff

Aah, it fits, that being Warrior Soul’s Kory Clarke thrown like a match at the pumps into the rude and rudimentary redneck rock truck known as Dirty Rig. If there’s one complaint I’ve always had of these guys (and, weirdly, Warrior Soul), it was that the riffs were a little too square, simple, obvious, Kiss-like. That’s still true here, but the explosive production, sleazy bar-room drumming, discombobulated guitar tone, and most expressively, Clarke’s huge rock roar avalanche in on the songs, turning them booze-happy like Artimus Pyledriver, Hammerlock, and American Dog. High On Fire and Fireball Ministry really ought to raise their game to this sort of presentation of what they’ve got, cos they’ve always had the same problem. What’s extra crack in the mushy birthday cake is the fact that Kory’s lethal wordsmithing is all over the album, lending both a poetic (but effortless) sophistication, a political (“Rock Did It” and “Cities Scenes & Thieves”), humorous, and graphic hotness to the caveman backtrack. Helping one get it all the more is a bonus DVD of the band grinding it out in the clubs, Kory looking like a friggin’ punk rock Coverdale, with the moves to match. It quickly becomes obvious that once you hear these open, breathing songs live, you’ll be a hungover friend for life.
(www.escapimusic.com)