I have mixed feelings about this record. MOLLY HATCHET was a legendary southern rock band who has been around since the early 70s and whose first two albums are classics of the genre. They were a band who stood out mostly because they rocked a bit harder than most of their contemporaries. The last good album they released was "No Guts No Glory" (1983). On "The Deed Is Done", the album they released the following year they re-invented themselves as an amazingly crappy, cringe-inducing AOR-band and chased away every dedicated lover of the southern rock genre, including yours truly. There has been a band called MOLLY HATCHET the last couple of years but since the only "original' member of that band is guitarist Bobby Ingram (who didn't actually join the band until 1988) I never felt the need to check them out.

The title of their new album "Warriors of the Rainbow Bridge" (the bridge to heaven) refers to the tragic passing of Bobby Ingram's wife last year. According to the guitarist he used the emotions he felt due to this loss to write the band's most intense and dynamic album to date. Or as he himself puts it, a "high-intensity kick-ass Southern rock boogie album". Well, apparently it worked because I'm really surprised about how much I enjoy this record. More than I actually wanted to, in fact. Because singer Phil McCormack sounds so much like original singer Danny Joe Brown (who also passed away last year) it's downright creepy. I still have the feeling this band shouldn't call itself MOLLY HATCHET, mainly because the press info makes a big point about the return of original guitarist Dave Hlubek, even though Bobby Ingram himself plays all the guitars on the record. I also got the feeling I'm being fed assembly line southern rock here (just listen to that title track), and MOLLY HATCHET's recent collaboration with retail giants Wal-Mart does nothing to dispel that notion.

But all that aside, I can't deny this album works, dammit! It's not classic southern rock, like the best of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, LYNYRD SKYNYRD or MOLLY HATCHET's own early records, but at least its good southern rock. Which is more than I had hoped for, so I grudgingly give this album its deserved 4 out of 5 stars and hereby recommend all you lovers of old hard rock and southern rock to check it out at your local Wal-Mart.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.mollyhatchet.com

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Roadhouse Boogie

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