The Young Guns Have Arrived. (Nothing To Lose - Forty Deuce)

Member Name: Farting Weasel

Product:	Nothing To Lose - Forty Deuce
Date:	26/10/05 (369 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Shows the 'uberbands' how it's done

Disadvantages: It'll never be taken seriously

The Band - Forty Deuce

The Album - Nothing To Lose.

Released 29/08/05 on Frontiers Records.
FR CD 252.
£11.99 from play.com

When unknown outfits such as Forty Deuce are putting out rock albums like this, why oh why are the likes of Velvet Revolver and Audioslave getting all the breaks? I suppose it’s the ‘names’ involved and the comic book life styles of drugs, sex and rock n roll that they lead that does it. But take a look beyond the images and the addiction, and neither outfit has put out anything that’s been able to back up the hype.

And then along comes a young band like Forty Deuce who have the audacity to release a debut, Nothing To Lose, that betters anything released by their more illustrious rivals. Nothing To Lose? Maybe they should have called it Nothing To Prove, because we have an album that shows that Forty Deuce are a band with a very bright future indeed. Hopefully.

So, who is Forty Deuce? Three unknown (to me anyway) youngsters, Taka on guitars, Ari on bass, Three on drums and a certain geezer called Richie Kotzen on guitars and vocals. The first three you may not recognise but Kotzen may ring bells with some, as he was guitarist with Poison and Mr Big in the 1990’s.

Between the four of them they’ve created a monster of a debut cd. A collection of rockers that will have you shredding your big/little sisters’ tennis racket in no time. The involvement of Kotzen seems to have put a brake on the others’ urges to dive headlong into the EMO pool and in so doing preventing them from becoming just another group of skater park wannabes. The band as a whole has benefited greatly from Kotzens experience and expertise.

And the music? Well: the album kicks off with a simple vocal, followed by a riff that just misses the mark and then the voice kicks in. And what a voice it is too, the likes of which I haven’t heard for a long time. Think of Danny Bowes (Thunder) or Neville MacDonald (Skin) and you’ll get my drift. From that point on the album takes off big time. Big guitars, big voice, big everything in fact. The songs are good too with plenty of zip about them. Good chorus’ that hook you into the songs in no time and nothing that will have you reaching for your razorblades. The song writing has produced stuff that wouldn’t be out of place on a Tyketto album (when they were good). There are no covers. However, despite with the Poison connection, don’t expect a party album. This is very much a rock album of our time. The playing is solid with not too much fret shredding. The production job, done by Kotze, Ari and Taki, is ok too, by which I mean it sounds good even on my crappy car stereo. It sounds good ‘n’ heavy on the in-house death decks. The playing and writing is hungry and edgy. Good and tight. They’ve got a job to do, and they’ve obviously set out to get it right first time, and they’ve done it too. I bet live, this stuff sounds massive.

My only criticism would be that with the last three songs on the album they allow the show to almost fizzle out rather than finishing with a bang. A coup de grace so to speak. They are a bit ploddy, Nothing To Lose being semi acoustic. They could’ve done with being spread about a bit. But this is a small quibble, because they are still quality. Oh yeah, also, the album lasts only forty minutes. Not enough for me, I’m afraid, especially when it’s this good.

So overall, a bloody good effort. If this debut were to go head to head with the debuts of the likes of Van Halen, Montrose, Hardline and even G n R it wouldn’t quite compare. But stick it up against the likes of the afore-mentioned ‘super groups’ (and many others) efforts and it becomes a different matter. Once he has heard ‘Nothing To Lose’, I bet slash will wish his outfit had spent more time working on their songs rather than whinging about their self inflicted personal problems.

No doubt ‘Nothing To Lose’ will quietly disappear from sight, and Kotzens’ association with former ‘big hair’ bands won’t help. I hope I’m wrong, but were this to happen then I think it would be a complete travesty of justice. This album deserves all the credit it can get, and then some.

Standout tracks? Well they’re all good, but ‘Oh My God’, ‘Start It Up’, ‘Complicated’ and ‘Nothing To Lose’ are the ones that grabbed me by the bollocks on the first hearing. And ‘Heaven’ wouldn’t be out of place on a Foo Fighters album.

Extras.

Not a lot I’m afraid. Just one poxy multi media (?) medley thing which is just a muddled mess and weighs in at under three minutes. With discs now able to hold up to eighty minutes of tunes why not just add a few more tracks. Particularly the killer one on the end to finish it off. Ho hum.

So, go out and find this little hard rock gem. You’ve nothing to lose, have you?

Summary: A band with a very bright future indeed. Hopefully.