Wired (http://www.marquerecords.com) have the pedal to the floor and they're burning so much asphalt that the smoke can be viewed from the moon. This is whiskey-dropping, head-bobbing hard rock so infectious and intoxicating that it will bruise your walls.
Before AC/DC got old and cliched, they were young, hungry, and - I have to say it - ballsy as this. Yes, it's true: Wired have big balls. Vocalist Darren Caperna is a dead ringer for Brian Johnson, but he has the lung power, as fully evidenced in "Knock Me Out," to produce the same hammering, in-your-face assault that AC/DC once did so well until age caught up with them. Guitarists Mike Mroz and Mike Wagner shift back and forth between the dirty blues of Bon Scott-era AC/DC and the white-hot heavy-metal thunder of the early Johnson years.
When judging a record like this, what's most important is how engaging the songs are, and Wired do not disappoint. "Walk Away" and "Fifty Cent Millionaire" are two-fisted knockouts. Even better are the misogynist anthem "Burn Bitch Burn," the pulse-pounding "Drop the Bomb," and the ripping "Another Shot." Just about every song jets at beyond the speed limit.
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The lads will probably get slagged as AC/DC imitators, but even the naysayers will be own over by "Backdoor." The sexual double meaning in the title will certainly have the juvenile element devilishly snickering; however, the sense of fun, not to mention the paint-peeling riffola, in "Backdoor" is going to hook even the most innocenct bystanders.
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