CRUSHDOWN
Like This (MCA)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Built around the songwriting team of vocalist Justin Raymond and guitarist Bruce Sonneborn, Crushdown comes out of the musical hotbed du jour of south Florida. While they're following on the heels of Floridian bands like Creed, Matchbox 20 and Limp Bizkit, they're as different from all of the above as all of the above are from one another.

The Crushdown sound is firmly rooted in classic rock. So firmly rooted, in fact, that the band's best qualities are sometimes almost hidden by the sonic roar of Sonnenborn, 2nd guitarist Pete Dembrowski, bassist Tim Benjamin and drummer Ricky Sanders. There are some great melodies behind that roar, and Raymond has a strong and expressive voice, but he's often carrying the melody almost single-handedly and the blast of the band generally has him punching out his vocals at the absolute limits of his range.

That's as close to a critical comment as I can muster about this disc, though, and I'm loathe to accuse anyone of rocking too hard. Rock is to no small degree about extremes, and while the boys in the band make their singer work his ass off, he's up to the task. More to the point, the songs are good. So good that they probably wouldn't suffer and just might benefit if everybody turned it down to, say, 9.5 once in a while.

If they never do that, though, they're still a hard rocking outfit with a collection of good songs. That puts them in the top ranks of what's out there now, and provides plenty of hope for a bright future.

Track List:

This * Patch * Monday * Dosage * Loose * Water * In My Head * Trippin' * Cold Floor Mornings * Close My Eyes * I Don't Care

© 2000 - Shaun Dale