Jackyl-Push Comes To Shove (Geffen '94)

Coming from a band with so much forward thrust, a band touted as the next Aerosmith, Push Comes To Shove's a bit of a limp one, and it ain't just me saying it. Jackyl's important second surprisingly lacks the bite, the hunger, the rhythmic aggression of the debut. Dupree and his leather lungs are in shrieking fine form, but riffs meander and smear rather than slice, over lukewarm production that is up to Bruce Fairbain's usual clueless standards. True, the record has a strange charm to it, definitely shambling less commercial, more authentically southern, engaging some truly cool melodies as on I Want It and I Am The I Am, but it's hard to believe nobody picked up on how lackadaisical the songwriting was here. I'm distressed, 'cos somebody has to save party rock.

Rating 6

Martin Popoff from "the collector's guide to heavy metal"