Joetown, Pills and Ammo

Loud (well, mostly), guitar-heavy, grunge-influenced rawk with vocals that swerve back and forth between Vince Neil, Chris Cornell, and Rob Zombie; that’s Joetown (known to his ‘rents, apparently, as Joe Delaney) all the way. And, surprisingly, I don’t hate it. In fact, I’m liking it in spite of myself. Sure, it doesn’t hit the mark all of the time — the lyrics to “American Altar,” for example, are clunky and don’t make a lot of sense (although I think it’s some kind of commentary on folks threatening to leave the States for saner climes; the “Wish You Were Here” tinge to the song is nice) — but Pills and Ammo gets redeemed somewhat by its high points.

There’s the sludgy, threatening, seriously Alice in Chains-esque (right down to the “Man in the Box” vocals at the break) “All My Angels,” the quiet acoustic ode to folks moving out to L.A. in search of stardom, “LA Tuning,” and chugging, sinister-sounding rocker “Devil As Woman,” all of which come off quite decently. Then there’s “Crash,” Joetown’s absolute apex by far, with its percussive, doubled guitars and industrial-metal-gone-cowboy aesthetic. The song reminds me of late-period, B-movie-lovin’ White Zombie or maybe Prong, and it’s one freight train of a track, with no stops in sight. Pills and Ammo isn’t for everybody, no, but I can think of a handful of hard-rocking friends who’d absolutely love this one. Not half bad.