By Gruesome Greg
Last week, I caught a midnite screening of Big Trouble in Little China at Scotiabank Theatre. A few days later, a promo for the new Lo-Pan arrived in my inbox. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.
Album-opener “El Dorado” has very little in common with the overhyped Iron Maiden single of the same name. If anything, it kinda reminds me of Pearl Jam—the verses sound a little like “Jeremy”… Incidentally, Lo-Pan isn’t naming songs after people this time around.
I actually quite liked their debut, but this one isn’t grabbing me in the same way. Songs seem shorter, and they’ve definitely dialled down the heavy, opting for a slightly less distorted desert rock/grunge sound. Tempos are mid-paced to slightly fast, and no tune lasts more than five minutes, cept for the last one, “Solo,” which is not one big wank-fest as the title implies, but rather a solid heavy rockin’ number that gets real slow and creepy a couple minutes in, then proceeds at a pounding, plodding pace. A really great tune; I wish there was more where that came from…
(Small Stone)
