So, maybe I’m not as jaded and cynical when it comes to the state of modern music as I come across when a band like HOT LUNCH can impress me the way it has with the aptly-titled Seconds.
Having missed out on the band’s 2013 debut, and with nothing more to go on than a Julian Cope comparison to MC5, I pressed Play and the snap-mare rhythm of ‘Smoke Ring’ flung my ears into grooved out rawk recalling the mighty – and mightily underrated – DIXIE WITCH and FIVE HORSE JOHNSON, while sounding directly like neither. Around halfway through, the quartet slows down to a hazed-out, languid ramble boarding on mid-late ‘60s psyche, building to an incendiary climax. ‘Human Reissue’ fuses STEPPENWOLF biker boogie to what Screaming For Vengeance-era JUDAS PRIEST would sound like if its trademark dual leads were traded in for a loose garage band feel and a side of MOUNTAIN-esque dynamics. One thing which definitely bears mentioning at this point is that rarely does HOT LUNCH finish a song where it started, which can often show a band more content to throw any idea that “might” work into a song than to serve the song first and foremost. This quartet, however, seems to always have a destination in mind when divergent paths are taken, a true rarity these days. Somber acoustics lead us into ‘Black Angel’s Curse’, and 14+-minute closer ‘Skulled To Neptune’ conjures the full spectrum of what’s come before, revealing light and shadow, showmanship and style, Think FARFLUNG at its most exploratory…and then going slightly beyond.
In all, HOT LUNCH has served up a heaping helping of rock sure to satisfy.
Review By: Lord Randall
HOT LUNCH
Seconds
Tee Pee Records
4.5 / 6