Look at the photos of Control_Z and you get the whole picture of where the band is coming from; dark moody poses, not to be messed with attitude, playing cause they mean it and majorly pissed at the world for the suffering its caused them. Its payback time.

The opening track ‘Throw Away’ opens up with some classic chord riffs with the death metal trade mark and enters into the melodic vocals of Dave Iman. Dave reminds me of Arthur Brown, the Sixties tripper who did ‘I’m the God Of Hell Fire’ back in 1968, an artist I had the pleasure of interviewing for a radio show I was hosting. It's well known that Bruce Dickenson was influenced by Mr. Brown, a testament to where that screamy, melodic rock vocal originated. Influencal lines that still penetrate the hard rock n roll scene today.

The band has done the hard road penance and learned their craft well. They are tight and know what they're doing when putting this stuff together. Setting up a recording studio and holding the reigns to there master recordings is a smart move for any artist to do, regardless of what genre you fall into.

‘Leave Me Alone’ the second track kicks in with double kick drums and a pretty cool hard melodic guitar riff and the Iron Maiden vocals return with some cool guitar work backing it up. Downward chord progressions, and the "Are You Waiting For Me To Die" lyric, makes me wonder who he’s singing this too? Someone with his life insurance policy maybe?

More heavy guitar riffs bring in ‘All That You Give’, which give way to more melodic chord riffs that support the vocal melodies. Are you seeing a pattern here? Tempo shifts bring the affair down and some very cool drumming brings it all back up again. There’s some good dynamics going on, they’ve definitely thought out the arrangements which pull and push across the four minutes of sonic assault.

‘Nowhere’ kicks in nicely with some head banging guitar playing, while the lyrics deal with the illusion of watching fantasies on the TV and trying to fight against the brainwashing. This is rocking along with some serious rebellion against the state. Go on boys, you got my vote. ‘You Wont Put Your Mark On Me’ lyrics stand out from the battering of distorted noise that should get your ears bleeding.

When angst is used to move the masses into revolution the whole hard rock scene starts to make sense. Dylan did it with folk and the hard rock scene is doing it with the sonic assault gun slinging approach.

Slower jagged guitars are used on the ‘Primitive Business’ track. Good vocals from Iman backed up with some excellent double kick drum work and a wicked solo which lights the track with Hendrix ninths throw in bring some soul into the proceedings, “Come on in boys for the big win, I love the smell of the overdrive pedal in the morning”!

‘Blame’, midway through the album, floats in with the asking vocals “Everyone Has Their Dark Side”, “Yes Sir We Do”! Mysterious guitar parts help the vocal along in its quest to “Live With the Pain” and accept your fate, that you're doomed because your parents messed you up with a crap life, telling you lies like Santa Claus was real and if you don’t eat your carrots, you’ll go blind. These are the things that get me doing rock hand signs in the air.

‘Know By Now’ has a good go at the President and the Police and all the other figures of authority that use us little guys like pawns in the game. No one can deny the depth of care that the authorities showed the good people of New Orleans and for that Control Z should be applauded.

More cool guitar work on ‘Incomplete’ with phased out effects and neat break-your-neck hook riffs build the album up to its crescendo. ‘Indian Nation’ takes the batten for the end of the race, by offering a hand to the American Indian. This is the track that shows the politics of the band and makes them different to the Cradle Of Filth salute to the devil rock sound that normally gets associated with this type of rock music.

‘System Failure’ is a rock n roll assault and as the title suggests the system may well have failed us, let's hope the next album is titled ‘System Replacement’. Tank Rock coming to a Strike Force near you soon!

Web site http://www.ControlZMusic.com .