Hailing from the northwestern town of Eugene, Oregon, the Rock n Roll Soldiers have begun to make a ripple among the rock community. The group has been featured on MTV's True Life and Made, a Verizon Wireless commercial, and videogames such as MVP Baseball 2005 and Saint's Row.
The Two EP's is the combination of the band's earlier released EP's,
The Weak Blame The Strong and
High School Sessions. Overall,
The Two EP's is a great introduction to a band that is on its way to great places. I turn my Ipod to the soldiers and begin my review of the Rock n Roll Soldiers'
The Two EP's.
The guitars and drums come in fast, the bass follows suit with a counter line, and Marty's signature scream open this album.
Anthem is a fantastic opener with, in my opinion, some of the coolest lyrics ever: "Turn off the sound of silence. Garfunkel just killed Simon." The song is basically what the title suggests, an anthem for the "mother f**kin' Rock n Roll Soldiers." After several repeats of the chorus, the drum intro for
Funny Little Feeling begins. Probably the most recognizable song on
The Two EP's, this track features one catchy chorus and one very cool distorted guitar riff. Marty's vocals are very fast in parts. The lyric "According to my list, I've still got so many musicians to kill" contains the title for recently released LP from the soldiers.
Flag Song is another track that may be recognized. This song has a more "pop-like" verse and bouncy feel. The chorus sings "Oh, let the new flag fly" and a grinding "yeah yeah yeah." This song is very catchy and makes you want to sing along.
Everybody's Gotta Live has another "pop-like" sound and pretty much just repeats "Everybody's gotta live, and everybody's gonna die. It is rather mediocre, but worth a good listen. However dull the last track may have seemed will be forgotten as soon as you hear the powerful opening riffs of
Barbarian. This is one of my favorite songs on the album. The drums and bass give the verses a heavy feel, and the echoing chorus lines are great. After the final "huh",
Habits I Have opens with a cool guitar part, but Marty's vocals seem almost annoying chanting "The habits I have" with a great emphasis on the I. This song concludes the first half of
The Two EP's and the end of
The Weak Blame The Strong EP.
The second half of this album begins the other Rock n Roll Soldiers EP,
High School Sessions.
Soldier's Fortune is another great track complete with distorted guitars and some strange high-pitched singing.
Can't Break That Glass has a similar distorted quality to it similar to the previous track. It also features some very mellow bass lines that give in to some Zeppelin-esque guitar riffs and sounds of breaking glass.
Lay Down And Die begins with some "interesting" hoo-hoo vocals. Like the remaining tracks on the album it was recorded with a distorted quality similar to The White Stripes'
Elephant. The song ends with some very angry vocals that have to be accompanied with a good amount of headbanging. Now, I must say the first time I heard
Three Godd*mns I was a bit confused. How could a rock band out of nowhere play a country song, and play it so well. Marty's vocals are quite funny with the typical country whine. Although country is probably not on everyone's favorite list, the song is worth a listen to establish an opinion. Another song that caught me by surprise was
Shut Your Eyes. At first I thought Led Zeppelin had somehow snuck their way into the soldiers' album. The guitars and vocals in the beginning are quite similar to a Zeppelin piece.
Dead Man's March comes after the piano outro of Eyes, and is the final track of
The Two EP's A single guitar is followed by the rest of band and a very well placed saxophone solo . This song is a very good track to end this album on.
Overall
The two EP's is a great, solid release from an up-and-coming rock band. I would recommend it to any fan of good rock, that isn't looking for anything really serious. The only real negative things I have to say is that Marty's vocals can sometimes get annoying and many of the songs sound similar. The Rock n Roll Soldiers are simply a band that must be listened to, and must be seen live to fully appreciate their sound. They have an incredible stage presence and can get any crowd excited. If you have never heard any of their songs, be sure to check them out. You will not be disappointed.
Recommended Tracks
Anthem
Funny Little Feeling
Barbarian
Soldier's Fortune
Final score 4.5/5
By the way this was my first review, so any comments would be appreciated.
