Motor City Mayhem - Shitfaced and Outta Luck

Motor City Mayhem

Shitfaced and Outta Luck

by Tatianny Ruiz at 24 June 2018, 5:03 PM

Welcome to the time of Rock'n'Roll in a line closer to traditionalism.  We are talking about the German band from Stuttgart, MOTOR CITY MAYHEM and the album "Shitfaced And Outta Luck" with ten songs packed in with the best of style and a salty pinch of Hard Rock with Blues. Unpretentious and diffuse they deliver a perfect energetic album for those who want to enjoy the highway or the best in the festivals on sunny days.

In an appropriate setting "this is an album for fun", it's not absolutely brilliant and has a very retro atmosphere.  It is easily connected to names like MC5, BLUE CHEER, The HELLACOPTERS, and BACKYARD BABIES just to start. I admit that the name of the band catches my attention and I would probably love to interview these guys, but let's go to the album, the subject at hand. Open your beer on a beautiful sunny day this summer and let's do it, with a cape as fun and simplistic as the band's proposal we hit the play and the first track "Hey C'mon" fires in its first few seconds.  What these guys want to do is captured with electrified guitars and an extremely fun line added to the pulsing bass in the background (I would love it to be a tone up) and drums with interesting turns, the album starts off as a party.

But do not cling to the fun and we'll run down the road in the clutter of "The Road" and you can speed up because the riffs are dizzying and the ground vibrating while the bass and drums make a wraparound web, I just realize that an item of the first track repeats here, Van's voice covered by effect, the same for the bass vocals, and this may sound out of the band's proposal but I'd love to hear his vocals more cleanly, however jovial this is, this is Rock'N'Roll, right? Jovial and without many rules. Guitarists Scott and Johnny really have great dynamics together so we have a pair that knows how to sound sharp and jovial while the solos are simple but run for full-bodied melodies.  This is a trend for almost the entire album but in tracks like "When We Were Kings" and "Bad Friends" we can have a greater light on Armin and Robin on the drums and bass respectively so it's good to be able to assess a more obvious tone for both.

We can evaluate that until "Bad Habit" we have an absolute festive rhythm but we find something with a different feeling in "Psycho Ward" where the band slows down and we find lines more melodious and with some apparent melancholy before closing this journey in "Burn in Hell" that puts us on the road back home.  I think this is the best way to qualify this album, such as a road day, festivals in the sun and beer. Nothing too technical or dazzling but dynamic, and the bagpipes in several passages bring an extra charm to this burly work. Just a pity that we cannot hear cleaner, no-effect vocals, so we'd have a better idea of how this might sound live, I guess I'll have to figure it out myself. Highlight for "Dead City" and "Outlaws (… On the Run)".

Songwriting: 7
Originality: 7
Memorability: 6
Production: 8