Eighteen Wheels Burning - Tweak'd Out, Strung Up, and Redlined Review
by Mark Hensch
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The Eighteen Wheels Burning on Tweak'd Out, Strung Up, and Redlined do not rage into infernos but rather simmer with a slow-burn. The order of the day here is groovy stoner rock with a harder edge, somewhere between Black Sabbath, Kyuss, Sleep, and Fu Manchu. If one has heard any of those bands (or their ilk,) they know just what Eighteen Wheels has in mind. Put bluntly, this is music that does not light the world on fire but a juicy joint instead.
Take opener "Mary Jane is My Only Friend (Sometimes It Feels Like)" as a standout example. "Mary Jane" zips by with warm riffs straight from the Fu Manchu catalog, the guitars perfect for an open-top convertible ride in the sun.
Therein lies Tweak'd Out's main problem. Much like that summer joy ride, this is an album which is as cozy as it is inconsequential. There is no reinvention of the wheel here – and though everything is decent – nothing about Eighteen Wheels Burning really sets them apart.
That does not mean Tweak'd lacks moments where the band nears originality, however. "Topless," for example, lays down some crunchy riffs behind its infectious choruses. "King of the Ian Hill," meanwhile, casually saunters through a Pentagram-worthy stoner anthem with a passable Ozzy imitator on vocal duty. After this, "Mobscene" puts the pedal most definitely towards the metal with a short but furious jam which will leave listeners gasping for more air than clean oxygen in a hot box. Last but not least, "The Wheeler" starts off with the band's typical molasses grooves before drifting off into a psychedelic guitar festival that is both fiery and tranquil.
I am a love-it or hate-it kind of guy so a CD like this is a rare moment of neutrality for me. As far as stoner rock goes, Eighteen Wheels Burning is pretty inoffensive and genre aficionados could do much worse than Tweak'd Out, Strung Up, and Redlined. Despite this, the disc never takes any truly daring risks, always settling for a comfortable but repetitive middle ground. With all this in mind, this album is like marijuana usage itself – one either smokes up or sits out. This one is your call.
Eighteen Wheels Burning's Tweak'd Out, Strung Up, and Redlined
Mary Jane is My Only Friend (Sometimes It Feels Like)
Topless
Tears of the Moon
King of the Ian Hill
Grand National
Mobscene
Third Reich Trucker
Cockblocked
The Wheeler
AMA
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Eighteen Wheels Burning - Tweak'd Out, Strung Up, and Redlined Rating:7.0
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