Dug Pinnick - Naked (2013)
Rock Army Records
Review by Wayne Simmons
Dug Pinnick must be the busiest man in rock
n’ roll. Frontman with King’s X, he uses his downtime to peddle grooves with
just about every other talented mofo out there.
There are a lot of heavy-hitters on his resume: George Lynch, Jeff
Ament, Billy Sheehan to name but a few. And yet, hot on the heels of the
Pinnick Gales Pridgen colab, Dug’s back with Naked, a solo album with a lot to
say for itself.
This is a great album, perhaps Dug’s best
solo release to date.
Musically,
it’s pure Dug all the way: groove metal/ grunge with that definitive voice.
It’s probably the heaviest we’ve heard since the Poundhound days, yet also most
melodic. The guitar tones are dark and sludgy, mostly drop-tuned. The vocals
are even darker, drenched in feeling and passion and minor-key pain. There’s an
unsettling, anti-gospel vibe about this album that makes it incredibly powerful;
brooding throughout, escalating with
some powerful lead work on standout track ‘I Hope I Don’t Lose my Mind’. And
there’s plenty of hooks, too; ‘Aint’ That The Truth’, ‘Courage’, and current
single ‘That Great Big Thing’ catchy as all hell.
Lyrically, Naked could be described as a
concept album, but the concept here isn’t some fantastical alien invasion or
cloak-and-dagger conspiracy; it’s Dug Pinnick, the man behind the guitar,
trying to get by and survive the same way the rest of us are. Opening track,
‘What You Gonna Do?’ sets the stall out:
‘I’m just like
anybody trying to figure out how to pay those bills that I just stopped paying,
living with no insurance or savings.’
Ballad ‘If You Fuk Up’ goes darker: ‘now you cry all day and get nothing
done, sit in the room thinking ‘bout a gun’; this is the story of a man pulling
himself apart and slowly putting the pieces back together.
Naked
is what it does, to coin a phrase. Honest in all senses of the word; a brutal
outpouring of the heart and soul. Heavy as all hell with some killer riffs and
hooks. In short, everything you’d expect from Dug Pinnick and more. Get it.
Tracklist:
1. What You Gonna Do?
2. If You Fuk Up
3. Speeding Love
4. Courage
5. Ain't That The Truth
6. That Great Big Thing
7. The Point
8. Take Me Away From You
9. I Hope I Don't Lose My Mind
10. Heart Attack
11. I'm Not Gonna Freak Out
Naked is available now on Digital and Signed CD from Rock Army Records.
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