BONESHAKER – Ride Me In Hell

It’s been clearly evident that there aren’t enough AC/DC cover bands or groups that want to sound like them. This time around a French band decided to give it a shot. You can’t even purchase the thing outside the band’s website and then only through PayPal; which is no big deal unless you don’t speak/read French. Yes their website is in French.

Has it been mentioned that the band is French? Not Australian like Airborne or anything, but French. The band Boneshaker was formed by a wild group of friends who love Rock ‘n’ Roll and decided to create their own. Even though the individual backgrounds of the members come from different genre’s, styles, and influences, it is obvious in their sound that AC/DC has the greatest stronghold and influences their playing immensely.

Boneshaker’s self-titled debut has only seven tracks to it, four originals and three live AC/DC covers. By the time the second track ended, it was frighteningly questionable that between the two guitarists that only one riff is known. The beginning of the first track “Ride Me In Hell” almost sounded like a clusterfuck of instruments being thrown together. It did get slightly better as it went along. The opening to the second track “We’re Gonna Celebrate” gives the impression of “didn’t we just hear that.” This one unfortunately didn’t get better as it went along. The third track, “In And Out” was refreshing and came not a moment too soon. Just when things looked as if they were turning around, another average tune in “We Love It Wild” is offered, but much better than the first two tracks.

Turning one’s attention to the AC/DC covers (“Shot Down In Flames,” “Sin City,” and “High Voltage”) have some anticipation to them. The three covers were supposed to be live, but in listening to the tracks, their audience members left by the time the recording of these were going down. It is quieter than a mouse in church. If there was a live audience, perhaps they were too stoned to notice they were at a live gig. On a positive note, the band does seem to pull off the AC/DC covers quite well. The best of the three tracks without a doubt being “Sin City.”

If the band put the amount of time and energy into their own music as they did into the cover tunes, they would probably be one level higher in terms of notoriety, sales, and distribution of their material and interest in the band as a whole. From performing the covers in the fashion that they did, it is obvious that there is an underlying talent in this band that has yet to be unleashed. Hopefully, this time around they spend more time in the recording studio and try to aim for something more unique and individualistic instead of trying to sound like one too many of someone else.

In terms of original material, the CD gets a 5/10 rating. If you throw in the covers on top of the other tracks, it moves up to a 6.5 or maybe a 7/10. Averaging out both gives this release a 6/10.