Monday, March 20, 2017

DIRTY WHITE BOYZ: ”Down And Dirty”

Rating: RRR
Label: Escape Music
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Do you remember early nineties hard rockers Kiss Of The Gypsy? They released one major label album on Atlantic but their success was limited and short lived. Vocalist Tony Mitchell has been in the music business throughout the years, but Dirty White Boyz marks his return to the melodic rock/AOR scene. In the band we find familiar names - Nigel Bailey, Neil Ogden, Paul Hume and Jamie Crees have been in bands like Three Lions, Bailey, Lifeline, Lawless, Demon…

It sounds like there are two bands on ”Down And Dirty”, one of them an exceptional melodic rock band and the other a fairly standard pub rock band. I definitely prefer the first one, with fine AOR songs like ”All She Wrote”, ”Hanging On A Heartache” and ”Rise”. Okay, maybe ”Ride With Angels” sounds a little bit too much like Bon Jovi’s ”Bed Of Roses” but Mitchell’s raspy vocals save it from being just a weak copy. The other ballad "After The Rain" is far more impressive though.

The pub rock band delivers us songs like ”Dynamite”, ”Playin’ Dirty”, ”All In The Name Of Rock’n Roll” and ”Bring It On”, the kind of meat and potato rock songs I’ve heard a million times before. Take ”Dynamite” for example: the title would suggest that it’s an explosive rock track, but despite its’ Def Leppard-vibe and verses that move along nicely, it falls flat thanks to a plodding chorus.

What else… yeah, there are times when Tony Mitchell sounds a lot like Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P. Now, don’t go thinking that it’s a negative comment, W.A.S.P. does have some very melodic songs too and I actually like Blackie’s vocals. Merely an observation.

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