A lot has been written about this album by Detroit-based band DIRTY AMERICANS when it was released in Europe last year. Besides some big one-page advertisements in several rock magazines there were also rave reviews comparing them to classic hard rock bands like GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, BLUE ÖYSTER CULT and LED ZEPPELIN. And now that it finally gets an American release the promotion department of their record label even goes so far as calling them "the next band to be crowned the kings of Detroit rock", and claiming 'DIRTY AMERICANS truly possess the Easy Rider, raisin' hell, alcohol-fueled brand of rock that the legends of Detroit made famous and infamous in the glory days'. That's enough to make me curious, even though some people in this band were in crappy nu-metal act THE WORKHORSE MOVEMENT and their album is produced by the same guy who produced those awful neo-grungers 3 DOORS DOWN.

But of course none of the above claims are really true. Yeah, I can hear they've loosely based the title track on GRAND FUNK's "We're An American Band", that the chorus to "Burn You Down" is supposed to sound like BLUE ÖYSTER CULT and that the semi-Eastern theme of "Dead Man" is probably their attempt at sounding LED ZEPPELIN-esque. The problem is that none of it really, genuinely sounds like any of these bands. If anything, they sound like a contemporary, slick production, middle-of-the-road parody of old hard rock. They've got the cool cover imagery right and all, but if I really have to compare 'em musically to someone else, I'd say they have more in common with MINDFUNK, EXTREME and those bloody STONE TEMPLE PILOTS. In short, they're like one of those semi-'alternative' 90s bands with some musical mannerisms and fashion tips from the 70s added and nothing more. Within itself it wouldn't be a bad thing if there was anything great or particularly memorable to be found here, but alas...None of it is actually bad, it's just ordinary, derivative, blah-blah.

Anyone who likes their hard rock plain, smooth, predictable, harmless and not too loud may probably find this interesting. But in that case, you're probably not even reading this review, right? If you want a contemporary take on grooving 70's hard rock done right do yourself a favor and just check out THE QUILL's "Hooray! It's a Deathtrip!", SOUNDGARDEN's "Badmotorfinger" or THROTTLEROD's "Hell Or High Water". As for DIRTY AMERICANS, don't believe the hype!!

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.dirtyamericans.com

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