Boston, MA
(Self-released)
“Maiden and Priest fans, it’s time to bust out your old denim…”
Do you love old Def Leppard records and denim jackets with the sleeves cut off? Do you frequently place umlauts over vowels that don’t require them? Do you wish Steel Dragon was a real band? Of course you do, dummy. And if you’re tired of butt rock and nü-metal garbage being rammed down your throat, it’s time to man up and cop the new release by RULE. Lead singer Mike Soltoff hails from Boston’s own Bang Camaro, which should tell you right there that this is gonna be a lean, mean, ass-kicking 6-song EP.
Fueled by cigarettes, boozy Les Paul-meets-Marshall-stack riffs and thunderously aggressive drumming, RULE’s EP comes out of the gate strong, as Soltoff’s vocals soar above the mix like Myles Kennedy’s recent work with Slash. Harkening back to a time when metal was metal, and the Sunset Strip was the only place to be if you wanted to make it on MTV, RULE…well, rules. Bringing with him some of the larger-than-life choruses that Bang Camaro was known for, Soltoff and crew (or should I say crüe) hit their stride with the chugging “Clinging to Life” before dialing back the tempo and dimming the lights for the gin-soaked “Bloodletter.”
The only thing that could make this EP better would be to release it on cassette, so we could listen to it in our ’83 Trans Am. Oh well…
Mixed by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios
Additional Mixing by Mike Quinn at Moontower Studios
Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering