Destination Somewhere
Dinner For Wolves
4 STARS
Massive’s second offering starts exactly as their name suggests it should: a huge sound bursting forth and rattling your window panes; annoying your less-discerning neighbours with equal parts thoroughbred pedigree and thoroughly modern take on rock n’ roll.
That pedigree includes a solid grounding in AC/DC, the Foo Fighters’ radio-friendliness, and especially Guns n’ Roses (of whom more later), but much effort has been made to ensure that whilst what you’re hearing isn’t re-inventing the wheel, it’s far from cliché.
Blood Money Blues is a scorcher, the sort of song that once upon a time would have been what we used to call a ‘hit’. Sinking Ship leans heavily on La Grange for a whiskey-soaked boogie with a solo that is equal parts Slash & Billy Gibbons.
More than a few licks are taken from Slash’s playbook (exhibit A, m’lud: Made Of Stone, which also features drums practically lifted off Appetite For Destruction); the title track reminds us of the late ‘80s torn denim, whiskey-sleaze of LA/Texan bar rumblers Junkyard; whilst Up In Smoke and Circus throw everything but a cowbell at the mixing desk, and make Airbourne look like they’ve come off the set of The Voice while they’re at it; and The Way It’s Always Been is another top shelf holding-up-the-bar rocker.
When confronted by ten songs of this calibre it’s no surprise that Massive are striking a chord – and, presumably, selling records – in the UK. Destination Somewhere is an album that harkens back to the glory days of all-killer-no-filler that bear many, many repeated listens.
SHANE PINNEGAR
Originally published on 100% ROCK MAGAZINE
