Ugly Kid Joe
Uglier Than They Used ta Be
Metalville
2015
One has got to love Ugly Kid Joe for their humor, defiant style and sheer determination… and if you’ve seen them live… well they’re a good time rocking fun band…
Following 2012/3’s really extended play “Stairway to Hell” that felt more like an album at 6+3 songs, “Uglier Than They Used Ta Be”, the band’s first proper full-length in some 19 years, arrives a couple of years later, funded twice as much as the band requested via a pledge/music campaign with the band already having a UK tour worked out and ready to go out to rock out once more…
“Hell Ain’t Hard to Find” is a lot smoother than some of the band’s previous singles/signature tracks, but it’s definitely charming and it stands out with its slightly sardonic lyrics and fuzzed out
guitar eruptions.
“Let the Record Play” is even more sneering and even directs some of its sniping irony on the band themselves as well as the changing fads that fans seem to follow, going a bit like “don’t even try to reminisce, never were a hit, we are a total miss, don’t you rewind to yesterday, put the needle down and let the record play…” simple as that! Simple but brilliant!
“Bad Seed” is loads heavier and more reminiscent of the bands latter days, I guess…
“Mirror of the Man” is a lot smoother, again, poking fun at modern life and people’s attitudes with its cynical lyrics…
“She’s Already Gone” is a lot more dramatic and pragmatic, all about a relationship breaking down.
“Nothing Ever Changes” is a very fragile & simple ballad with just Crane’s vox and some mellow guitar (with an incidental electric solo, just happening)… and its heart achingly beautiful.
“My Old Man” is a rather bitter rocker about being unable to be there for your father’s dying moments. I can’t tell if this is based on a personal experience, but forgiveness is granted even posthumously in the song, whose riffology is positively sinister in hue.
“Under the Bottom” is yet another crushingly heavy number with some pretty wicked moments and definitely a sense of deja-vu as its intro is eerily similar to “Hell Ain’t Hard to Find”…
There’s a rather frantic take on “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead, which like the two tracks preceding it features Motorhead’s Phil Campbell who wasn’t however part of the original… funnily, WC has crossed paths with Motrohead before on the Airheads OST, where Ice T and he joined Lemmy for “Born to Raise Hell”.
“The Enemy” is pretty weird as it actually feels like another ballad for most of its duration, while it pauses for a few moments to conclude as a proper heavy charging song…
Last but not least is another cover, this time on Rare Earth’s “Papa was a Rolling Stone” which features Dallas Frasca, a lady from Australian, that pretty much feels like a female version of Whit and as such work really well taking turns with him to tackle the songs verses…
The band’s fourth proper album is actually a mature sardonic statement and an album directed and intended for all those willing to lend an ear, which apparently are more than a few… rock on…
Following 2012/3’s really extended play “Stairway to Hell” that felt more like an album at 6+3 songs, “Uglier Than They Used Ta Be”, the band’s first proper full-length in some 19 years, arrives a couple of years later, funded twice as much as the band requested via a pledge/music campaign with the band already having a UK tour worked out and ready to go out to rock out once more…
“Hell Ain’t Hard to Find” is a lot smoother than some of the band’s previous singles/signature tracks, but it’s definitely charming and it stands out with its slightly sardonic lyrics and fuzzed out
guitar eruptions.
“Let the Record Play” is even more sneering and even directs some of its sniping irony on the band themselves as well as the changing fads that fans seem to follow, going a bit like “don’t even try to reminisce, never were a hit, we are a total miss, don’t you rewind to yesterday, put the needle down and let the record play…” simple as that! Simple but brilliant!
“Bad Seed” is loads heavier and more reminiscent of the bands latter days, I guess…
“Mirror of the Man” is a lot smoother, again, poking fun at modern life and people’s attitudes with its cynical lyrics…
“She’s Already Gone” is a lot more dramatic and pragmatic, all about a relationship breaking down.
“Nothing Ever Changes” is a very fragile & simple ballad with just Crane’s vox and some mellow guitar (with an incidental electric solo, just happening)… and its heart achingly beautiful.
“My Old Man” is a rather bitter rocker about being unable to be there for your father’s dying moments. I can’t tell if this is based on a personal experience, but forgiveness is granted even posthumously in the song, whose riffology is positively sinister in hue.
“Under the Bottom” is yet another crushingly heavy number with some pretty wicked moments and definitely a sense of deja-vu as its intro is eerily similar to “Hell Ain’t Hard to Find”…
There’s a rather frantic take on “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead, which like the two tracks preceding it features Motorhead’s Phil Campbell who wasn’t however part of the original… funnily, WC has crossed paths with Motrohead before on the Airheads OST, where Ice T and he joined Lemmy for “Born to Raise Hell”.
“The Enemy” is pretty weird as it actually feels like another ballad for most of its duration, while it pauses for a few moments to conclude as a proper heavy charging song…
Last but not least is another cover, this time on Rare Earth’s “Papa was a Rolling Stone” which features Dallas Frasca, a lady from Australian, that pretty much feels like a female version of Whit and as such work really well taking turns with him to tackle the songs verses…
The band’s fourth proper album is actually a mature sardonic statement and an album directed and intended for all those willing to lend an ear, which apparently are more than a few… rock on…