by Brian Krasman (Meat Mead Metal)
The new album from San Francisco’s Hammers of Misfortune called “17th Street” won’t be in stores until the end of October, but because I was assigned a review by Outburn magazine for Issue 62 (Issue 61 should be on shelves any day now, and some guy I know has the cover piece), I’ve been playing it on rotation for the past couple weeks. I’ve long been a fan of this band, which really is more of a hard rock outfit than metal, though there’s surely some crossover to doom and prog-metal fans, and their new opus was high on my most anticipated discs for this year. And it hit the mark.
The band shuffled its lineup again, as leader John Cobbett had to replace female vocalist Jesse Quattro and guitarist/male vocalist Patrick Goodwin. Not to worry, as he brought in hard-hitters Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum, Saros, Amber Asylum) on guitar and vocals and super-powerful pipes-owner Joe Hutton (The Worship of Silence) to round out the best incarnation of this band ever since Mike Scalzi was in the ranks. “17th Street” is an instant classic from one of America’s most exhilarating, creative and sadly, unknown bands, but here’s guessing their new association with powerhouse Metal Blade will help inflate their profile. I don’t want to say too much about the record because my Outburn review will do that for you in more detail, but let’s say that this record should help fans of Slough Feg, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Priestess and really many of the bands on the Tee Pee label get their thrills. It’s full of drama, incredibly hook-filled songs, and one of the best cuts in this band’s entire collection in “The Grain,” a song that Hutton just owns. Try to hear that chorus and not get swept away.
I’m a big supporter of this band, and this fifth effort (or sixth if you consider “Fields/Church of Broken Glass” two separate pieces) is incredibly pleasing. Even with more band member changes aside, it’s hard to expect anything less than awesome when you have Cobbett in command. Go get this when it’s released Oct. 25 (TODAY!!).
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