Mach22: Working Off The Clock
MACH22
WORKING OFF THE CLOCK
Released on January 13, 2017 (Mach22)
Review:
After snagging the #1 spot on Sleaze Roxx’s Top Ten Albums of 2015 with their six-song EP Like My Chances, Mach22 are back with a three song EP titled Working Off The Clock. Confirming and following up on a great album is often harder than coming up with the great album in the first place because now the pressure is on and all eyes — or at least Sleaze Roxx‘s eyes — are upon you to see if you can do it again.
Joining singer Corey Glover — oops, I mean Lamont Caldwell, guitarist Sebastian LaBar (yes, the son of Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar), drummer Damian MonteCarlo and bassist Jaron Gulino is guitarist Ric Haas. Mach22 have flipped flopped between having one or two guitarists for some time and I think having an extra guitarist helps the band have a thicker sound and probably lets either LaBar or Haas let loose a little bit more on the lead guitar.
Mach22 come back a little heavier and faster with their three song offering on Working Off The Clock. Just like with Like My Chances, quality is favoured over quantity. All three songs are solid although I definitely can pick my favourite track to least favourite one quite easily. The best song hands down is the opening track “Get Away” which eventually kicks in with a quick guitar riff and then never lets up. With such a heavy riff barrage, it takes some strong pipes to be heard over that and Caldwell luckily is more than up for the task. The man simply is a phenomenal singer constantly reminding of the aforementioned Living Colour lead vocalist Corey Glover. “Get Away” is definitely the heaviest song on Working Off The Clock. “No Good News” is next and ends up feeling more like a bluesy jam song at times than anything else and especially at the end. It’s got some groovy moments but tends to lose me towards the end with the Led Zeppelin like or old ’70s bluesy rock section. Working Off The Clock ends with the “Stuck In My Head” which gets the video treatment and is a solid rocker. It’s not flashy but solid throughout and gets the job done.
Is Working Off The Clock as good as Mach22‘s previous EP Like My Chances? I would say definitely no as the three songs on Working Off The Clock lack the variety, slower pace, groove and melodies that were way more prevalent on Like My Chances. Nevertheless, two of the three songs on Working Off The Clock are quite good and I suppose that the band didn’t just want to replicate the same type of songs that they had on Like My Chances.
Track List:
01. Get Away
02. No Good News
03. Stuck In My Head
Band Members:
Lamont Caldwell – vocals
Jaron Gulino – bass
Sebastian LaBar – lead and rhythm guitars
Ric Haas – lead and rhythm guitars
Damian MonteCarlo – drums, percussion
Production:
Produced by Mach22
Mixed and engineered by Joe DeLuca
Mastered by Chris Collier
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Twitter
Reviewed by Olivier for Sleaze Roxx, March 2017
Mach22‘s “Stuck In My Head” video:
MACH22 – Stuck In My Head
Brand new single “Stuck In My Head” taken from the new EP “Working Off The Clock” available 1/13/17. Link for purchase belowhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/album…