{"id":15317,"date":"2013-08-16T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T00:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=15317"},"modified":"2013-11-21T00:54:12","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T00:54:12","slug":"ep-review-shotgun-rodeo-guilty-as-charged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-shotgun-rodeo-guilty-as-charged\/","title":{"rendered":"SHOTGUN RODEO – Guilty As Charged EP (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SHOTGUN RODEO
Guilty As Charged EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019m not going to lie, but when I first heard the band name I was expecting some type of revival sleaze \/ hair metal band, but was certainly confused by the amateurish cover artwork which reminded me of some obscure, low-budget 80s thrash act.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s Shotgun Rodeo is a relatively new band and this six-track opus comes hot on the heels of 2012\u2019s Dead End Massacre<\/em> EP. And after a few spins I\u2019m hearing a strong influence of classic thrash mixed with the muscular strains of Pantera, particularly in the angst-ridden vocals of Espen Bj\u00f8ru who, as far as I\u2019m aware, hasn\u2019t been in the band for very long.<\/p>\n

The sound Shotgun Rodeo creates is not woundingly heavy but it still packs a punch as it seems to boast a punky attitude and takes me back to the halcyon days of metal and when I first heard the 1990 debut self-titled opus of Kentucky combo Kinghorse. The drums of Vegzilla (aka Vic Evil) are always raging and bone-shuddering, and those beefy guitars of Don Shrediablo have a flexibility to enable the band to ease into varying gears which at once combine groove-based metal with a more old school feel of rage.<\/p>\n

EP opener \u2018Sweet Poison\u2019 features tight musicianship that comes in the form of a thrashy opening riff and hurtful drum before it shifts into a jarring melody before Espen Bj\u00f8ru\u2019s clear, bruising vocal rants enter the arena. \u2018Chaos Effect\u2019 is equally volatile, offering a charging drum and a no frills riff amidst the darkly-tinged vocal barks. The song also offers a welcome dose of melody, particularly on the chorus.<\/p>\n

Shotgun Rodeo could be charged with one minor crime \u2013 a lack of variety; because the likes of \u2018Riding The Bullet\u2019 and \u2018Darkest Domain\u2019 \u2013 for all their bruising quality \u2013 are merely straightforward rockers that feature rather dull lyrics and formulaic structures. Overall, this opus seems to lack the cutting edge of, say, \u2018Warborn\u2019 which featured on the previous platter, and I\u2019m not overly convinced that Espen Bj\u00f8ru\u2019s vocals are better than those chesty rasps of previous growler T. Mikalsen. But hey, Guilty As Charged<\/em> is still a rewarding encounter even if it fails to deliver in certain departments<\/p>\n

Guilty As Charged<\/em> no doubts marks a transitional period for the band \u2013 an outfit who have yet to find their true identity. Shotgun Rodeo are certainly a band to keep an eye on, but don\u2019t expect to be blown away.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHOTGUN RODEOGuilty As Charged EP Self-released (2013)Rating: 6\/10 I\u2019m not going to lie, but when I first heard the band name I was expecting some type of revival sleaze \/ hair metal band, but was certainly confused by the amateurish cover artwork which reminded me of some obscure, low-budget 80s thrash act. Norway\u2019s Shotgun Rodeo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,821],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-shotgun-rodeo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15317"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15325,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317\/revisions\/15325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}