Radiacs Hell Raiser CD - Import

Note that the Radiacs are the rockabilly kind of hell raisers, not the Scandinavian death metal kind: no Cookie Monster vocals and epic guitar solos here. Of course, in its way, rockabilly is just as circumscribed a musical style as death metal, with a similarly small group of acceptable influences and a similarly large risk of a band recording an album that's basically indistinguishable from dozens of others in the style. Sadly, that's largely the case with Hell Raiser: the Radiacs are a more than competent rockabilly trio, with all of the skills thus implied when it comes to twangy guitars, hiccuppy vocals, slap bass abuse and minimalist standup drumming, and they should be commended for sticking with the classical rockabilly form instead of trying some kind of unwise cross-genre hybrid. Unfortunately, they're not much more than that. Little individual personality comes through on these 15 songs, and even the most die-hard rockabilly fan might think that Hell Raiser, as much of a roots-rockin' good time as it is, sounds a lot like something they've heard before. ~ Stewart Mason