New Jersey’s WHO ON EARTH returns with its sophomore shot, It Takes The Village. So strap in, babies, let’s see if the chicken’s finger-lickin’.

Opener ‘Vigilance’ is a slab of fellow Garden Staters BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, complete with pinch harmonics, a biker bar anthem at birth, and I’m starting to see the Neil Fallon comparisons in the delivery of vocalist Coosh, but thus far not blatantly enough to be called a rip-off. ‘Any Other Way’ follows, gang background vocals adding a bit of ‘80s hard rock seasoning to the sauce, tasty dual leads garnishing the main dish, and leading us into the ‘Shadows’. Mid-paced yet energetic, and the first overt metal attack on the album, I’m hearing snatches of the bands I cut my teeth on in the mid-late ‘80s; rarely a bad thing, and surely not so in this case.

By ‘Good Man Down’, I’m wishing for a break from the tones employed by guitarists Barone and Kocha. They’re clearly road dogs, playing out the truth of the hard livin’ they’ve surely survived, but I’m not sure what the 1-minute instrumental of ‘Closer’ was supposed to do except give me a chance to take a piss. In that case, job done, and well, fellas. ‘Too Close’ leans hard into the heavier side of ‘90s “hard alternative” radio rock, while ‘Oh, Set Me Free’ mellows out a bit before kicking into the funkier, rhythm section led ‘We Don’t Belong Here’.

Ballad ‘The Unbeaten’ ends the album on a triumphant note. What we have here is an album that starts off with a band’s heaviest material, over time slipping into hard rock territory circa SALIVA / FUEL popularity, and that’s kind of where I’m dropping these guys stylistically for the most part after a full listen to It Takes The Village. Next time around it’d be cool to hear the quintet step out of the shadows of its inspiration and toward a sound that becomes its own. They’ve obviously got the passion for it and skin in the game.

If you ever wished bands like the two above had more horsepower in the engine and grease in the garage, WHO ON EARTH is here for you.
Review By: Lord Randall

WHO ON EARTH
It Takes The Village
Independent