Burnt Out Wreck, the band fronted by ex-Heavy Pettin’ and Mother’s Ruin member Gary Moat, released their second album “This is Hell” on October 11th through Burnt Out Wreckords/Cherry Red. The album was recorded and mixed at Liscombe Park Studios in Soulbury, The mixing was done by Steve Rispin, produced by Gary Moat & mastered by Pete Maher.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptQ8WPYYc2c&w=560&h=315]
Gary created Burnt Out Wreck in the summer of 2016. After penning songs for the debut album, he ventured into the studio under the watchful eye of Steve Rispin (Asia), and with Gary’s determination to create good time classic rock, the album ‘SWALLOW’ took shape and was released early 2017.
After plenty of promotion and hard work touring the UK, the band returned to the studio to record the follow up, ‘This Is Hell’, a fierce, hard rocking album with a heavy punch and one that sees the band take a big leap forward.
Gary has a colourful history as the drummer and main songwriter for Heavy Pettin’, but for BURNT OUT WRECK he has traded the drum stool for the microphone and has a hugely talented band playing alongside him.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haGH3cGQPhU&w=560&h=315]Gary’s vocal style developed in Mother’s Ruin, the band that rose from the ashes of Heavy Pettin’ in 1991 but in 2014, he shut the that band down in favour of song writing. Burnt Out Wreck’s inception was unexpected but welcome! ROCK AINT DEAD….
‘This Is Hell’ sees the band ratcheting up the pace with this foot stomping, ball busting hard rock album that’ll give the best of them a run for their money! Frontman Gary Moat say’s: “This is Hell, the title says it all. It’s a hard hitting, fast paced and more focused album. It’s an angry set of songs that follows on in the same vein as Swallow, but a bigger sound. It has drained me mentally and physically, made in eleven days start to finish, I cracked the whip on the entire band & they agreed it was worth it!”
Me personally, I first came across Burnt Out Wreck at this years Hard Rock Hell AOR where they played a rip snorting set on the main stage and I then caught them on a wet and windy afternoon on the outdoor stage at the Rock and Blues Custom Show in Derbyshire at the end of July, where they still drew a very healthy crowd, despite the conditions.
Their live performances are loud, rocking, full of gusto and create an amazing atmosphere with plenty of headbanging, handclapping and foot stomping to tire out even the most battle hardy warriors plus countless opportunities to whip out the air guitar or air drums and feel like you are part of the on stage action.
Knowing what I know about the band after those performances I was a little bit excited to be get the album in my inbox and get the chance to review it. Since it arrived, I have played and played the album to get a feel for it, listening to it at every opportunity in the car, or at home whilst working away and whenever it has been on I have felt the need to turn it up loud and then even louder.
The only problem I have had is picking my pen up to write notes as my fingers and feet have been constantly tapping away to the infectious, almost mesmerising beat that every one of the 9 tracks on offer has to it. I can honestly say I have not wanted to put this album down.
Opening track “Dead or Alive” sets the tone for what lies ahead as the guitar from Adrian Dunn kicks in. His six string spits and snorts out a classy riff that has you in dreamland immediately and then when Gary Moat’s vocals join the party, it is impossible not to make comparisons to the classic Bon Scott era AC/DC.
It is a fast paced, foot to the floor, headbanger of an opening track that leads into a further 8 numbers of top quality classic rock, filled with soaring guitars and plenty of boogie.
The dirty, bluesy, strut of second track “Positive” is completely infectious. It is slower paced than the opener with a more melodic edge to it but still has that to die for blues filled boogie that just drips out of the speakers in front of you. A Status Quo influenced intro heralds the arrival of “Paddywack” into your brain.
A foot stomping, barnstormer of a track , it is full of fun filled lyrics and overflowing with more risqué innuendo that just roll off Moats’ tongue and pen at will. Just try not singing along with him as he tells you “The woman’s got a tattoo on her paddywack, driving me crazy, just shaking that thing”.
A blistering solo from Dunn and a mesmerising beat from the rhythm section of Paul Gray (drums) and Alex Carmichael (bass) which keeps your foot and fingers tapping for the duration make this an absolute standout track on the album.
“Headfuck” is another smouldering slab of molten rock that draws you in. Full of angst fuelled lyrics like “You’re such a headfuck baby, you made my life a fucking living hell” accompany more sweltering hot guitar work from Adrian Dunn and Miles Goodman.
Guitars Electrified” is the midpoint of the album and is a turbo charged headbanger with an electrifying riff that runs throughout the track. The guitars and drums build the track superbly before Moat comes in over the top.
There is an unmistakeable quality in the way he delivers his vocals and with the rasp in his voice it could easily make you think that the late great Bon Scott had been reincarnated. One thing is for sure, for a man that started life as a drummer, he certainly knows how to sing and to hold your attention whilst he does it.
Title track “This is Hell” is an epic slow burning number, gleaming from the red hot guitar parts and searing solo’s and with yet another spellbinding beat to it.
The craftmanship in the song writing from Moat and the band is so clearly evident as it builds into a red hot snarling track full of more angry lyrics. Who is going to argue with the man as he sings “Stop complaining and grow a pair”, advice I dare say he has offered up more times than he dare remember.
The last three tracks on the album, stick to the same pattern as those numbers that have gone before. They are full of riffs, sizzling solo’s and a machine gun like drum beat and then there is the classy, raspy vocals that echo out all along, getting you singing along with each catchy chorus.
Rock Hard Sticky Sweet” comes, no pun intended, with yet more fun filled innuendo with lines like “She likes it rock hard sticky sweet” and “Just A Dog” has a really dirty, bluesy guitar sound that accompany the lyrics perfectly, like a match made in heaven. Album closer “Snow Falls Down” is a true rock and roll anthem and is the perfect way to end a magnificent heavyweight hard rock album.
If you a fan of all things classic rock and in particular Bon Scott era AC/DC, one thing you must do is add this album to your collection. It is full of boogie filled, hard hitting, heavy rocking bluesy anthems with plenty of tongue in cheek lyrics and risqué innuendo’s that will make you dream of those bygone years when that band were putting out killer album after killer album.
You never know, the world may yet see another AC/DC album, it may not, but in the meantime and to wet your appetite for an album that may or may not appear, “This is Hell” will float your boat sufficiently to quench your thirst and satisfy your hunger. It may just be that Gary Moat and his four band members have produced the album that AC/DC want to write but don’t.
To sum it up, “This Is Hell” is an album made up of 9 classic rock anthems that will make you bang your head, tap your feet, pull out the air guitar and just get lost in the moment as you play along with the band and sing-a-long to Gary Moat’s innuendo fuelled lyrics.
It is an album that is not going to reinvent the wheel but it makes you quickly realise how important an invention said wheel was and how you need that wheel in your life every day. This is indeed an album, that you won’t put down once you start listening to it and from the off, every track sounds like it has been, or should have been part of your life for ever.
‘This Is Hell’ track listing:
1. Dead Or Alive
2. Positive
3. Paddywack
4. Headfuck
5. Guitars Electrified
6. This Is Hell
7. Rock Hard Sticky Sweet
8. Just A Dog
9. Snow Falls Down
Burnt Out Wreck are:
Gary Moat – Lead Vocals
Alex Carmichael – Bass
Paul Gray – Drums
Adrian Dunn – Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Miles Goodman - Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals
Burnt Out Wreck Gig Guide
29th November / Hangar 18 / Swansea
6th December 2019 / Tavistock Wharf Devon / Supporting the Pete Way Band
17th January 2020 / Great British Rock and Blues Festival / Skegness
26th January 2020 / Real Time Live / Chesterfield / Supporting the Pete Way Band
28th January 2020 / The Robin 2 / Bilston, Wolverhampton / Supporting the Pete Way Band
7th February 2020 / Hard Rock Café / Glasgow
8th February 2020 / Bannermans / Edinburgh
3rd May 2020 / Rockforce festival /Blackpool
22nd May 2020 / Rockers Reunited, Winsterfest 9 / Near Matlock
Review by Darren Smith for metalplanetmusic
