Snake Bite Whisky: ‘Black Candy’
SNAKE BITE WHISKY
BLACK CANDY
Released on March 30, 2021 (Sliptrick Records)
Review:
Australia’s self-proclaimed “bastard child of Motörhead, Guns N’ Roses and Faster Pussycat” have unleashed their new album Black Candy to illustrate that quite grandiose statement. Snake Bite Whisky race straight out of the starting block with “Thunderbird”, a frenetic opener with searing guitar work immediately apparent from Laggy and the required laced with ground glass vocals from Jay R. The anthemic “Raised In Hell” follows and is truly one of those fist-waving rousers that is guaranteed to grab an audience by the throat and compel you to join in. “Creepshow” is up next and really does have the feel of the proverbial snake about to pounce. The song sneaks up on you without any warning and is as infectious a sleaze track as I’ve heard in a while, which is down to the superb bass and drum work of Stacii Blake and Dan Weldon respectively, as much as anything else.
“Choke” continues in that vein although not quite as successfully. The rhythm section is once again at the forefront and the vocals are sneeringly compelling, but it’s let down by the clichéd, rather toe-curling, “such a dirty girl” lyrics. “Bones In The Fire” seems to channel a little of the swamp metal sound that does absolutely nothing for me and passes by almost unnoticed. “Reload, Aim, Kill” goes back to the straight forward, stadium anthem, albeit with standard sleaze fare lyrics and a rather too obvious attempt at a Guns N’ Roses style ending. “Sweet Cocaine” is an infectious, sunset strip era track that is very reminiscent of Faster Pussycat right down to the Taime Downe style vocals. This may not be a bad thing to many people’s ears but it simply jarred with me for that very reason.
“Hammered” is another crowd pleasing rocker with a searing solo from guitarist Laggy who, along with Stacii Blake and Dan Weldon shine on almost every track anyway. “Dead By Dawn” is full of sleazy posturing and tries way too hard to stand out from the crowd but unsuccessfully to my ears. “End of The Line” has a real Hardcore Superstar feel to it, which is never a bad thing, and features probably the finest Jay R vocal performance of the set and is a real rousing finish.
It’s definitely an album of two halves. The first four tracks are well worth checking out on their own merit but, after that, the songs are pretty standard fare and often seem to just segue into each other in rather an average way, with the exception of the very fine “End of The Line.” As I said earlier, the band members are solid together and often outstanding throughout the album, and Jay R has the requisite sleaze vocal style to more or less carry the songs through – although at times that style appears to be affected rather than natural, which does grate a little. I can certainly see the vague influences of some of the bands stated on their press release, and as a carefully selected six-song EP, this snake would have had some real bite but, as it stands on a ten track album, there is some killer but, sadly, more than a little filler.
Track List:
1. Thunderbird
2. Raised In Hell
3. Creep Show
4. Choke
5. Bones In The Fire
6. Reload, Aim, Kill
7. Sweet Cocaine
8. Hammered
9. Dead By Dawn
10. End of The Line
Band Members:
Jay R – vocals
Laggy – guitars
Stacii Blake – bass
Dan Weldon – drums
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Reviewed by Rockney Colin for Sleaze Roxx, April 2021
Snake Bite Whisky‘s “Hammered” video: