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Reviews

The Fucking Champs — IV
(Drag City DC197, 2000, CD)

by David Ashcraft, Published 2001-12-01

IV Cover art

The Champs are an unusual trio of twin lead guitars plus drums that cranks out a heavy uptempo rock sound with plenty of meaty riffs. On many tunes they sound like an instrumental version of Thin Lizzy (remember them?) with the gutsy low end from Josh Smith’s nine string guitar making up for the lack of a bassist. The best part of their sound is the excellent twin guitar interplay with dual lead and harmony lines that really sing (there is only one vocal track on the album by the way). There are some similarities to Joe Satriani but this is less sophisticated and technical, but more visceral. When they calm down the Champs come up with three quiet tunes including one really tasteful ballad, but most of the album is pure guitar-driven rock. There is a bit of a sameness to many of the tracks, but fans of chunky rock riffs should enjoy this.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 23, 2000 releases

Related artist(s): The Fucking Champs

 

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