The Hollow Men - Food Chain ...

The Hollow Men are a new band to me but it seems they have been around for some 10 years. From doing some research into the band I see they have shared the stage with bands as diverse as Diamond Head and The Atomic Bitchwax. They have been compared to everyone from Masters Of Reality to Led Zeppelin and the more obvious one, Kyuss and that is perhaps the best place to start this review. First impressions are always important and this is a primitive (all the artwork is done in pencil)  yet professional looking package and putting the disc on, you hear some fine production as well. However this Dutch trio doesn't quite cut it, something sounds  recycled and lacking but they do hit some high points within this album's seven tracks.

Direction-wise, the band is a mix of the old and the new. At times it is pure 70's hard rock, other times they head out to the desert for some stoner grooves a la Kyuss but at other times, they sound like a modern rock band like Velvet Revolver meets The Foo Fighters. This mixed bag can sound disjointed at times but when they deliver the goods, the band kicks ass, sadly it just doesn't happen enough. Songs like 'Out In The Cold' sound a bit clumsy and a touch recycled from the grunge-era so it can sound dated somewhat. They still do what they do, extremely well but I am not too sure about if some of their songs gel too well. Opening song Euphoria rocks like it's Kyuss jamming with Soundgarden while at the other end of the disc you get a song like Bleeding which sounds very country. As you can tell, this band leave their options wide open but that makes it hard to get into any kind of vibe with the disc.

Another example of their eccentric style is 'This Is Not a Love Song' which is basically punk-rock while 'Top Of The Food Chain' sounds like 80's rock similar to Danzig. Mixed into most of these tunes is a stoner-groove that threatens to explode at any moment but never does which is also a little frustrating. Also a drawback is the monotone vocals which don't help the songs too much but there is some great riffing to be heard also. 'Throne' is the best track in my opinion, it charges along in classic, desert-rock style. It might not be too original but the tune rocks hard with great fuzzy riffs and a solid groove. A few more tracks like this one would have been nice. It is hard to put this recording down too much, there is nothing really horrible about the album but there is nothing too memorable either. I think grunge fans are more likely to dig this than anyone else and lets face it, they are a dying breed so I am not sure where their core audience is. It is worth listening to but I think their versatility at playing different genres actually does them more harm than good.....6/10
The Hollow Men @ Myspace