"Shovelbarn"
Digital Dimension
By Vinnie Apicella Talk about powerful… having just witnessed what might finally be the career ending last concussive installment in the fallen career of one Eric Lindros-imagine a style of music that delivers an audio blow of equal magnitude… I swear much more exposure to this and I'll be lying flat on the ground motionless! Now not to focus on a bandmember's debilitating condition to draw interest in this band, it is worth mentioning that what makes Shovelbarn all the more extraordinary is that Bradford Baker, the singer, hones his skills from the confines of a wheelchair! But confined he is definitely not! Never before has a singer delivered as potent a performance, ranging from subtle lows to glass shattering highs through a barrage of unparalleled aggressive energy-and the band holds its own too! So the next time you're feeling down about life, just take a listen to these guys-perseverance in the face of adversity… after having bloodied and bruised it several times over! First of all, what kind of a name is Shovelbarn? As opposed to what other kind of barn? The five piece-does that work still, "piece?" We're not getting old here are we-think in terms of total brutality spewing from the instruments-all of the traditional aggro devices are put to urgent use on such non-hits as "Whicky Whack," (with a shovel maybe?) "Strychnine TV," and "Hoodlum 5" to name a few. Structure and content remain consistent barely crossing the divide between hard-core, rap, metal and whatever other offensive forms of recorded madness you can fit into the equation! And these song titles! They've got a promising career ahead of 'em doing voice-over narrations and dirty joke book punchlines if all else fails. Odds are they won't as the band possesses the right "tools" to make a fine, upstanding musical contribution to the unsettled youth at large waiting for the next clear moment to vent a life's worth of anger and frustration! |
More from the Online Metal Journal |
 |
|
|
|