Rise Again

Alabama Thunder Pussy – “Rise Again”

1998 saw the arrival on the music scene of Alabama Thunder Pussy with their debut “Rise Again” – a slab of southern metal that quite simply ROCKS. Not as heavy as Down, but considerably better, it’s full of Skynyrdian influence and groovy riffage that – at times - wouldn’t be out of place in a doom band, and from time to time we hear some Sabbath influence in there, too, along with more than a smattering of hardcore. This album has a damn fair amount of stoner sound, too, and the skull on the front cover could only be more fitting if it were toting a reefer. The first four albums featured the vocal talents of Johnny Throckmorton; whose voice could be described best as – if it were a facial expression – a scowl that says “Do not fuck with me.”

The amount of hardcore sound with this band varies from album to album, for example on this one there is more than on say, “Fulton Hill.” “Get Mad / Get Even” is one of the songs that sounds more hardcore-influenced; it also wouldn’t be out of place on a Crowbar album – the track is a doomy mid-pacer that stomps to it’s conclusion at a steady rate. For the most part, the riffs are catchy and don’t fail in having you bob your head.

The opening tracks, “Falling Behind” and “Victory Through Defeat” are great choices for their place in the line up – they give a flavour of what to expect from the album, and are also plain ol’ great damn songs that kick off with great riffs that just have you moving like a madman. Later on in the album, “Podium” does this too, and it also features a pretty sweet bluesy solo. The band showed a definite aptitude for order selection, by following slower songs with catchier faster ones.

Track 7 - “Speaking in Tongues” is more a balladic track than it’s predecessors, and features Throckmorton’s drawling clean vocals sounding as you’d expect them to based on his vocals from other tracks. At around 6 minutes the track slows down to a simple, sinister bass riff and a little drumwork, before ending in the aggressive manner of the song’s choruses. “Jackass” that follows this is a far more upbeat catchy song with a mildly sludgy riff at the heart of the song, providing us with an opportunity to bang our heads.

The final song proper, “Fever 103” is another great rocker with a catchy lead and a great rhythm that just makes you want to do naught but rock out! That’s a word I’ve used a few times in this review (sort of like “boring” in my “Scars of the Crucifix” review) but that’s because that is what this album does best. This album is like listening to your favourite Southern Rock bands, but in metal! The Four Horsemen said “Rockin’ is Ma’ Business” – a song The ‘Pussy would cover on their second album “River City Revival” – and it looks like this band really have taken this to heart, this album is a glimpse of the balls-out rockin’ that the band’s later efforts would do.

This is a damn good debut album, and the only real downside is that now the label have decided re-issue the album with inferior artwork, so if you plan on buying it, try and get the original with the bearded skull in a Confederate hat.