Nine Pound Hammer - Kentucky Breakdown (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Nine Pound Hammer

Kentucky Breakdown (2004)

Acetate


The press sheet has them hailed as

"The Ramones in a pickup"-Billboard
"If Johnny Cash had a teenage son that was heavy into the Ramones and the Reverend Horton Heat."-Sounds
"Hellacious hill-billy punk rock"-Guitar

Really, all they had to say was "It sounds like Motorhead done by guys from the South." Because it does. Singer Scott Luallen replaces Lemmy's British accent with true Southern twang. Each song is only a few chords with doubled guitar powerchords with occasional Skynard-esque riffs and solos fronted by Blaine Cartwright of Nashville Pussy fame. The bass could just as well be non-existent. But who cares? These songs are about drinkin', fightin', cars, "the Law," and goin' ta work. And with titles like "Drunk, Tired & Mean," "Double Super Buzz," and "Don't Remember Lovin' You Last Night," I'm just about ready to break a bottle on the bar and declare in my manliest voice, "Them's fightin' words!"

Lyrical gems include "I ain't hurtin' nobody/so get off my land/what part of this sentance/don't you understand/I'm trying to fix my truck/I gotta get to work/I know that yer the Law/ut somebody's gonna wind up hurt," or "Because I've been like this my whole life/i was born drunk, tired, and mean." My personal favorite, though, has to be this: "Company's comin'/cousins are runnin'/fightin' over seats/put on your shoes if you wanna eat/wring his neck, now he can't peck/runnin' through the yard/without his head he won't get far." Nothing like a song dedicated to backyard BBQ.

But seriously. It sounds like a simpler version of Motorhead. And that's not a bad thing. It's shit-kickin' honky-tonk at heart, and goddamn if it doesn't make you wish for just a second that you were born in the South.