Search - Stephen Pearcy :: Fueler

The Critic speaks...

Paul | Westfield, MA | 10/08/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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"

Pretty good, MAN!

Jacob M. | 11/30/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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..."

It doesnt matter...

Jacob M. | Texas | 07/03/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."