SHOTGUN – Live: Down Decadencia Drive

“Shotgun”, plain and simple, is a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the highly underrated first, self-titled Shotgun Messiah album released in 1989 on Relativity Records.

Over the years some of the members in former Shotgun Messiah have been made aware by fans that the band never got to play their songs live for their supporters in countries like Europe, Latin America or Asia. In 2016, two of the band’s biggest supporters contacted singer Zinny J. Zan and drummer Stixx in order for them to consider a reunion and the opportunity to play live in some of those countries. The two hardcore supporters, of course, wanted to see the original line-up reform. When a full reunion turned out to be a definite “no-go” the two supporters volunteered to fill the two open slots themselves. Those two supporters/fanboys? Guitarist Rob Marcello, most notably with Danger Danger, and bassist Chris Laney (Randy Piper’s Animal, Laney’s Legion).

This live album is well done, sadly without the original underrated guitarist Harry Cody, and covers the entire Shotgun Messiah album other than the heavily Cody-inspired instrumental track, “The Explorer”. Zan’s vocals come across well, but show some signs of age, especially throughout “I’m Your Love” but overall he maintains a high energy level and stays true to the songs. Diehard fans might miss Cody on guitar but Rob Marcello turns in a highly admirable performance, he pays homage to the original songs and still adds some of his own touches. The rest of the band provide nice back-up vocals as needed, for example on “Nervous” and come across sounding a lot like the original.

Overall this is a recommended buy for any Shotgun Messiah fan! It’ll have you remembering why you liked the studio release so much and will probably have you digging that platter out of your collection for a few more spins!