Boy Hits Car are something of a new name to me despite forming back in 1993, apparently the Los Angeles based band originally formed with the idea of fusing heavy passionate music with world beat and middle eastern flavours.
Since their formation the band have released a number of albums (All That Led Us Here is their fifth), been courted by numerous record labels (Arista, Dreamworks, Universal, etc) in the past. Performed at numerous high profile festivals (Reading/Leeds, Puklepop, Rock Am Ring, etc) across the US and Europe as well as supporting the likes of System Of A Down, Incubus, Seether, Shinedown and Papa Roach among others, stealing shows world overm due to their infectious energy and contagious grooves.
On the evidence of All That Led Us Here, it would seem that I have some serious catching up to do, the album is an incredible mix of hard riffs, melodic grooves, crooned and bellowed vocals, elastic bass riffs, laidback verses and punchy hooks, drawing the listener in before spinning off in yet another direction. Think the aforementioned Incubus, Earthtone 9, king Prawn, think Angel Dust era Faith No More.
The album opens with the stunning Silhouettes Fade, featuring acoustic guitars, delicate croons one minute and tight heavy grooves the next, from there on in the band weave a magical spell between groove-laden metal, melodic rock to full on nu-metal via twisting middle-eastern passages and strummed acoustics.
Highlights include Battles Of The Heart opens with a gorgeous delicate croon and a strummed acoustic, before a loud rock riff crashes in to create a stunning melodic rocker complete with a hard hitting infectious chorus, an instantly memorable melody and a glorious combination of aggression and control as the band twist and turn more in the space of four minutes than most bands manage in a life time. Quiet Storm offers up the band’s aforementioned Eastern influence as the track opens with mystic rhythmic patterns and a tight world music groove before the band crank up the amps and the singer ups the ante further with a bellowed vocal hook. Whilst The Extremist (Do You Feel Me On This) offers a delicious elastic bass thump, a lovely brief percussion led middle section and that ever present collision of aggression and melody, that runs throughout All That Led Us Here. Ourglass (As Time Slips Away) is another track well worth a mention with it’s use of pattered percussion and strummed acoustics that run through the duration of the track whilst the band add further layers of electric guitars and driving beats creating an intriguing and unique take on the metal genre.
Boy Hits Car have an interesting and always infectious sound, their use of melodies and subtle eastern grooves helps the band have a real unique twist on an over saturated scene, whilst the songs themselves hook the listener in further and CRegg Rondell’s vocal range, from melodic croon to full on rage adds the perfect topping to an already enticing plate. All That Led Us Here, is compelling from start to finish and like I said at the start of my reviewm if the band’s back catalogue matches up to this gem, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!!!
Rhythm & Booze Rating 9
www.boyhitscar.com
