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Time Bomb
04/17/2001 8:28 PM, Yahoo! Music
Mike Lipton
If Buckcherry's self-titled 1999 debut scored on the Stones-y (via Aerosmith), meat 'n' potatoes rock of tunes like the hit "Lit Up," the band's follow-up is clearly an attempt to move its sound forward into the latter part of the last century.
Buckcherry's overblown rock 'n' roll is exactly the kind of music that can be dressed up by production (in this case John Travis--Kid Rock, Monster Magnet), almost (but not quite) giving the illusion that something exciting is happening when, in fact, its merely recycling the already recycled. If there's any new ground to be broken, it's in singer Josh Todd's elevated consciousness, evidenced by lyrics like "I'm a big dick motherfucking porno star" ("Porno Star") and "whiskey in the morning/can't stop drinking/gonna die" ("Whiskey In The Morning"). While throughout, Todd annoyingly affects a style aping Bon Scott's classic snarl, the tracks (notably "Ridin'" and "Whiskey In The Morning") are actually solid. The band sounds most comfortable when playing crunchy pop/rock--"Place In The Sun" (which is little more than Cheap Trick's "Surrender" sans style) and "Underneath"--although that too is territory that doesn't beg to be revisited. Strangely, the best track may be the soulful ballad "You" in which everyone (including Todd) shows taste and restraint.
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