By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer
4/5
Looking for an easy listen to close off the summer? Need a mellow tune? Well you might want to watch yourself, because the cover is of Play.Rock.Music features four nude baby dolls, not exactly hinting towards easy listening. The band? The Toadies.
The four-piece Texas-based group have just released their fifth album, Play.Rock.Music. And rock they do. Despite being around for over 20 years, and with more bumps in the road than a Canucks squad in the playoffs, the foursome have shown that they can still more than hold it together.
Right from the first track, “Rattler’s Revival,” lead singer/guitarist, Todd Lewis, goes with a fast-paced song that’s sure to make you want to “shake it like a rattler.” The album continues with some teasingly catchy moments, such as in “Magic Bullet,” which mixes into the generally heavily distorted guitar sound the group has going.
One of the tracks I found myself listening to several times is “Sunshine,” which just manages to build and build and build until it finally explodes in a wall of glorious noise. The record finishes on a different note for the group with “The Appeal,” a much slower, softer song that doesn’t quite seem to fit in with its surroundings, but is a welcome addition nonetheless, and definitely is a tune—like the rest of the album—that you should give a listen.
