Taking Dawn, Time To Burn

Author:     Taking Dawn

Released:   2010

Genre:       Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Producer:   Micheal "Elvis" Baskette

Rating:       ****** (6 out of 10)








Personnel:

Guitar, Vocals    Chris Babbitt
Guitar                 Mikey Cross
Bass                    Andrew Cushing
Drums                 Alan Doucette

List of Songs

1. Time To Burn     2. Like A Revolution     3. Taking Me Away     4. So Loud     5. Save Me
6. Close Your Eyes     7. Godless     8. Fight 'Em With Your Rock     9. Never Enough
10. Endlessly     11. The Chain

Nobody’s ever gonna convince me that Rock is dead or even on the edge of dying. Newcomers gave birth to followers, who in turn inspired newly coming badasses of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Where there is action, there is reaction, and some heads are gonna roll and I can’t wait to see all of those heads trundling down the hills of Iommi, Page, Clapton, Blackmore, Hendrix and others. I have heard a few greenhorns worshipping the Good, Old Times with a particular sound of a particular era of Rock ‘n’ Roll and I must say that new is not equivalent to bad, but everybody will agree that bad is never going to be good. The question is: How good is the new good?

There was Kingdom Come as a Led Zeppelin’s poor man in ‘80s and Greta van Fleet nowadays. There is Airbourne following the footsteps of mighty AC/DC. Not to mention all those Death and Black Metal bands growing on likes of Dimmu Borgir, Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth and obviously Venom. When speaking of today’s Rock and Metal bands, groups of kind of the Darkness, Jettblack, Voodoo Six, H.E.A.T., and the Treatment come to mind, but there is one more. Taking Dawn took off in 2007 handing the torch of Rock ‘n’ Roll for the new generation and more crowning the nasty ‘80s than artistic ‘70s, but roots of Grand Funk Railroad, Creedence Clearwater Revival and late Sabbath albums are easily found on their first and last album Time To Burn. They left Roadrunners Records after their 2010’s debut release because of still unclear reasons and signed up to… Roadrunners again? Now they’re known as Devil’s Run, but as Devil’s Run they haven’t delivered anything than just an EP in 2014, so let’s not waste time anymore, roll up the sleeves and go on.

The lead single, opener, and their first big hit, Time to Burn, spans in less than 3 minutes and mixes up the vibe of ‘80s with new production of 21^st century. The goods are on deck, Babbitt’s pipes are strong and crazy riffing shuffles the dust off rappized music shelves. The chorus is so insanely infectious that the groove you loose and “Halle-fucking-llujah” you find in head even two days after. Like a Revolution and So Loud smash ‘n’ grab the best of the mixture as well with a slight decrease in firing the blazing guns. The former one lacks a catchy chorus and the latter desperately is moaning for more ingredients and not only the stale tales. There is no love song or power ballad, only power riffs and fists-and-pumps.

Save Me and Never Enough take the album higher with a concise message of deliberate chaos with good taste. Lyrics are blunt everywhere and the guys need to learn how to pen a good song with good lyrics, not only “You bad cutie”, “You bad ass”, “**ck you all!” attitude. Never Enough delivers more stuff which cannot be described as sophisticated, but with a little of insight one can hear lines like “Whoever’s eyes I try my sight’s still set on you” which shows some progress in the total regress, but You push me away/ I hate you “gems” should be deleted and reframed… pity. There are three great songs, including the title track, Fight ‘Em With Your Rock and Endlessly. Fight ‘Em With Your Rock resembles the good, old stuff of Blackout-era Scorpions with Quiet Riot’s high party penning and smoking soloing and smothering bass drum kicking. Endlessly is rhythmic, but AC/DC-wise in recognition, but if you want to go up higher, you need to take from the heights.

There is a party everywhere and Kiss mammoths would like it. If you plan on having a riffles-down-glass-rise party with your Rock ‘n’ Roll friends, internalize the Taking Dawn’s album, raise your ***king glass and drink for the Good and Bad Times when a Shot in the Dark meant more than only a shot. Take your shot and enter the Crazy Train with those four Las Vegas folks – a good party guaranteed.