Bay Area progressive metal outfit
Hammers of Misfortune's fifth outing brings to mind classic
Deep Purple,
Queen, and
Judas Priest as filtered through
Dream Theater's kaleidoscopic art rock lens. Led by guitarist/lyricist John Cobbett,
17th Street juggles power metal clichés, classic rock melodies, and doom metal breakdowns with equal aplomb, managing to circumvent any kind of eye rolling through sheer determination and earnestness. Key cuts include the weary, vaudevillian “The Day the City Died” and the blistering title track, the latter of which opens with a pair of crucial duel leads before launching into a brutish mix of
Queens of the Stone Age and "Starship Troopers"-era
Yes. Eclectic? Absolutely, but it never feels contrived, and when all of the disparate parts successfully align, as they do on the breathtaking
Big Country-meets-
Iron Maiden-inspired single “The Grain,” it’s like randomly spinning the dial on the radio and landing on your favorite song. ~ James Christopher Monger