Customer Reviews

Fueler

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just got this CD at a concert featuring Stephen Pearcy, LA Guns & WASP. I wondered why his entire set consisted of RATT songs and had no tunes from this CD until I heard the CD. It's pretty disappointing. The songs are very rough, the vocals are terrible, the production stinks. You'd never know this came from a guy who'd been to the top of the charts - it sounds like a home made garage band demo.

Stephen Pearcy, former vocalist of multi-platinum metal outfit RATT, has brought forth an album full of brand new material from his new group "SEP and the Rat Bastards". Unfortunately, barring a few standout tracks, this one comes off a little dull.

The production is third class -it's easy to get past that though. Pearcy's vocals were never something to tout, but he gets the job done. The album flaunts some nice guitar work and some clever lyrics.

The disk starts out beautifully with "Overdrive," a wonderfully fast paced, pounding set of pure hard rock. The blood pumping continues with tracks such as "That Sick Thing" and "Kill Kitty." However, everything takes a dive with the monotonous and slow "Godsmack." The riff is nice and fat, but the song never evolves, and is lyrically poor with a simple chorus that just about kills everything that was passable in the song.

The album then dives into it's first single, "Drive With Me." The song is tight, with a great rhythm and an undeniably catchiness. It is a bit on the short side, clocking in at less than 3 minutes, but still one of the albums stronger tracks. The real problem however is the track placement. Had this been in front of "Godsmack," it would have been great. The song isn't quite as fast as tracks like "That Sick Thing," sort of a middle ground between the fast and slow, but because it follows such a sludging piece, it comes off sounding misplaced and awkward. Truthfully though, most people will skip that one and get right to "Drive With Me" anyways, so it's not a big deal. However it hurts the album on the whole.

The second half of the album kicks off with a strangely addicting little ditty called "Spy vs. Spy," which was co-written with guitarist-for-hire Kerri Kelli. After that are a couple tracks that are easily forgetable, the perfect example being the blatant AC/DC rippoff "Dream Machine" that is short, worth a listen, but bland. The one redeeming track left on the disk is the stunningly brilliant "Gamblers and Thieves." Loud, rowdy, and fast paced, this is the kind of track that makes a Pearcy fan proud to lift the horns. Featuring some nifty guitar work and a scream along hook, this track alone is worth the price of the album. The last track is a(nother) new version of the classic RATT tune "Round and Round." It's slightly heavier than the original, but not much different. It's such a good song that it's bearable to hear again, but it doesn't add anything special.

Overall, FUELER is full of filler and a few standout tracks that make it a worthy purchase for fans of the genre and fans of Ratt, if only to take it out once in a while for a few spins.

Paul "the critic" St. Pierre
Westfield, MA

The stand out tracks for me were Drive With Me, Godsmack, and Gambler's and Thieves. Didn't really need another version of Round and Round. I liked the previous Pearcy solo cd Social Intercouse more. This one does come with a video for Drive With Me which is pretty cool.

This CD is a good by metal standards, but be warned: don't expect RATT, because that is not what Fueler sounds like. It has some elements of Ratt, but more hardcore on the metal scale. The songs are pretty good, especially when pumpin' iron. My favorites are Drive with Me, Kill Kitty, and Overdrive. I saw Pearcy performing at American Metal Blast with WASP and L.A. Guns and he opened with the song Overdrive, so I had to buy this CD. Another good song is Gamblers and Theives, which contains references to a bunch of Ratt songs. Pearcy cleverly uses titles of songs like "Between the Eyes" and "Back for More".
The only downside of the album, dispite driving beats and nice riffs, is that Pearcy's vocals are really rough on some of the songs. It's not exactly rap metal, but its a far from hair metal.

P.S. The CD includes a music video for DRIVE WITH ME that you can watch for free on Stephen Pearcy's website. Oh well...

Is this album nu-metal? Is it hair metal? Hell no! You can't really categorize Stephen Pearcy's fueler but you can listen to it for yourself and see if you like it. I personally enjoyed this cd a lot, being a fan of ratt and arcade. These tunes have some industrial elements along with pretty killer riffs and clever lyrics. Its fast paced and aggressive and i like it! Notable tracks include Drive with me, gamblers and theives, overdrive and Dream Machine. In conclusion, if you dig old Ratt and are into metal you'll probably like this album.

What in the world!?! This album is complete garbage. It was actually sent to me for free and I'll be chucking it in the dumpster right when I'm done with this review. Stephen Pearcy had a cool voice and Ratt was a talented band. But to any would-be-listener who expects melody or quality musicianship, be warned: Besides "Gambler & Thieves," there is NONE to be found on this album. Ironically, the production represents that of a garage band that would have been booed off stage or pelted with eggs had they toured with the likes of Ratt or Dokken back in the 1980s. How can anybody produce something that sounds this awful and yet have the nerve to sell it? I realize that music is a matter of taste. So with that said, if you like poor productions, grungy sounding guitars, and the almost complete lack of melody... then this album may be for you. But those who like harmony, melody, skillful guitar, and a quality production--look elsewhere.

I just picked up Fueler being a fan of Pearcy and RATT and i must say i did like it even though it sounds nothing like Ratt and more so like the industrial feel of Rob Zombie or Brutal Planet era Alice.It has some really cool rockers like "Overdrive" which sounds great blasting through my car stereo and "Godsmack" another killer cut.Like i said dont expect any Ratt here just new school Pearcy which is not necessarily a bad thing.

This is a good CD which I enjoy.

It's a good CD to have in the car when you're cruising fast down the highway at night.

Some songs are really good, some mediocre. All in all a decent album.

Of course it's not RATT. This is Stephen and his band. Most of us who follow Stephen's solo career (which continues now even though he has rejoined RATT) enjoy his solo material.