• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

May 2025

• Laurenne/Louhimo: Falling Through Stars
• Rock Out: Let's Call It Rock N Roll
• The Flower Kings: Love
• Maestrick : Espresso Della Vita: Lunare

March 2025

• W.E.T.: Apex
• Alliance: Before Our Eyes
• Ginevra: Beyond Tomorrow
• Phil X & The Drills:
  Pow! Right In The Kisser
• IQ: Dominion
• Heart Line: Falling Heaven
• Gotthard: Stereo Crush
• Defender: Dying To Live
• Streetlight: Night Vision

February 2025

• Robin McAuley: Soulbound
• Perfect Plan: Heart Of A Lion
• Craig Brooks: Desolation Freeway
• Mantric Momentum: Alienized
• Pattern-Seeking Animals: Friend Of All Creatures
• Crazy Lixx: Thrill Of The Bite
• Ginger Evil: The Way It Burns
• Dream Theater: Parasomnia
• Tyran: Tyran's Oath
• Saber: Lost In Flames

January 2025

• Wildness: Avenger
• The Ferrymen: Iron Will
• Labyrinth: In The Vanishing Echoes Of Goodbye
• Bonfire: Higher Ground
• The Big Deal: Electrified
• Landfall: Wide Open Sky

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

[ More Music Reviews ]

Dirt Mall: Pacifuego

Rock

Rating: 4.0/5.0

DayKamp Records
www.dirtmallofamerica.com
www.myspace.com/dirtmall
Review: Craig Hartranft,  02.22.2010

When you've got a good thing going, why change? Boston's Dirt Mall began with an idea of creating fundamental rock and roll. They embellished it with a bit of punk brashness, melodic sensibility, and modern garage rock creating 2007's Got the Goat by the Horns. This basic substance remains on this year's Pacifuego, a solid disc of gritty modern garage rock and roll.

I might even add that Dirt Mall have upped the ante by stepping backwards. Pacifuego has a more elemental and raw sound than its predecessor. While the aforementioned embellishments remain, they're more nuances than anything else. Pacifuego is a rock album, pure and simple. Strong riffs over a strong, yet minimal, rhythm section accented by whiplash guitar solos drive every song. Yet some songs have singular accents like the layered vocal arrangements on Lost in Plain Sight or the blues piano on Standing in the Road. Sharpness and brevity have always characterized Dirt Mall's rock as on the punkish I Am the One and Only. And Johnny Anguish is up to his usual wit on Rats where the vermin long to be Cats on a lively rock and roll number.

Ultimately, if you like your rock to be rock and roll, with garage grittiness and attitude, the Dirt Mall's sophomore release Pacifuego will be perfect for you. Recommended.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

If you like your rock to be rock and roll, with garage grittiness and attitude, the Dirt Mall's sophomore release Pacifuego will be perfect for you. Recommended.

Alphabetical Index

Here's a fun fact about Swiss legends, Gotthard: their last 16 releases, excepting their debut album, went to number one in their home country, making them one of Switzerland's most successful acts and ... [ Read More ]