Left Lane Cruiser
All You Can Eat!!

It's a pale and harmless understatement to say that "Crackalacka" is a start from the get-go. Listening to it will make you feel like you're chasing a freight train on the dusty tracks of the Pacific & Eastern Railway, like the outlaws of times gone by. A chase through rings of fire, however, because the blues of Left Lane Cruiser are the most incendiary of all, and there’s no better fuel than the slide of Freddy J IV - legally known as Joe Evans - and the percussive fantasies of Brenn Beck. The dirtiest, sweatiest duo from Mississippi is back, and they up the ante. "All You Can Eat!!" ('09, Alive! Records) is their second official album.

Listening to the boogie of "Hillgrass Bluebilly" and the country of "Ol' Fashion", it seems that their roots are still firmly planted in the fertile fields of the Delta, where the devil began collecting his own debts before signing contracts at the crossroads. The music of the two becomes even more edgy and uncompromising. It won't be enough anymore to just tap your foot in time like the hobos continue to do all their lives; now, they demand, as tribute, our heads. And I challenge anyone not to headbang to "Black Lung", with its slide, more menacing than ever before, carving out a riff that calling it "metal" is an understatement, given the violence of execution. The sinister contours are emphasized even more fiercely in "Hard Luck" where the voice, recorded very low, distorts into a tar-like regurgitation. The two adventurers let us hear the echo of the road in spartan executions like that "Broke Ass Blues" with its marked outlaw accent, before showing off their muscles again in the blatant virility of "Hard Workin' Man" and "Putain!". Closing off with the southern-redneck rhythms of "Poopdeflex" before "Waynedale" reminds us of the aforementioned rickety train, which now, with that relentless strumming that would pale any band that - stupidly - makes being heavy a reason for existence, seems like something to run away from. After all, darlings, this is the life of those who don't fear God.

Everything comes together in the music of Left Lane Cruiser, in their primordial and irresistible simplicity. If before they asked us to bring our asses to the table, now they openly challenge us: "let's see how much you can eat!", they say. But, listening to this "All You Can Eat!!", it seems like it's more of a test of endurance for our eardrums than a contest to see who can eat the most pork n' beans. These bastards will never change... And I continue to hope so with all my heart.