There is always room in my CD collection for another album of solid, back-to-basics rock, which has become increasingly rare in this day and age. So it is with loud applause that I welcome 99 Burning (http://www.99burning.com) into the household.
99 Burning's album, "Midnight in America," is everything you'd expect to hear from a group which actually debuted in the early '90s, rock's last Golden Age. There is no fingernails-on-chalkboard screaming, no awkward rap injections, no horribly tuned guitars desperately grasping for a memorable note. Instead, these veterans let it rip with authority and experienced talent, recalling rockers as diverse as Frank Zappa and Alice in Chains.
The infectious "She's My Addiction" delights the ears with the sudden appearance of wah-wah guitars. Right there you know that 99 Burning have taste and rock and roll smarts. The song is loud but melodic, too, a combination lost on many of today's harder outfits. The whole purpose of rock wasn't to make us deaf, after all; there always had to be a beat underneath the noise, a hook that listeners could grab onto. "TV Child" is my pick of the pack; its bluesy intro is classic rock at its most tasty, and the rest of the cut is reminiscent of Pearl Jam but without Eddie Vedder's obnoxious angst.
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99 Burning aren't set to revolutionize rock; they simply just want to remind itself of its true mission - to rock. Mission accomplished!
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