MONSTER TRUCK play Edgefest at Downsview Park on July 31. See listing. Rating: NN
Monster Truck’s debut album didn’t come easily. After their 2011 EP led to some chart action and opening slots for Slash and Deep Purple, the Hamilton rockers with a penchant for manly southern-fried 70s vibes and sleaze blues attempted to birth a full-length quickly. But that first attempt in an L.A. studio didn’t work out, and it took some time (and money) to finish what they’d started.
Furiosity sounds big and energetic without sacrificing the gritty quality the hairy four-piece cultivated during years of playing in the Hammer. It’s thick with riffs that turn on a dime and have surprising rhythmic punctuations. The band is tight, tight, tight.
But these things don’t save it from sliding into that aggro, neck-vein-bulging, Nickelback-evoking shit pile that Canadian rock radio can’t get enough of. The songs aren’t as lyrically cheesy as Kroeger and Co., not as overtly retro as the Sheepdogs, more fun than Theory of a Deadman and most interesting – by far – when harnessing prog rock, as on The Giant. Too bad the latter only happens once.
Top track: The Giant
