Band:	Beggar's Ball
Album:	Fight This Town
Style:	Stoner metal
Release date:	2006

01. Low Life Blues
02. Starbanger
03. Live Out Loud
04. Fight This Town
05. Life In A Lie
06. Deadman's Lullabye
07. American Vocal
08. Anti - Hero
09. Demon Seed
10. Famous N' Filthy

Everything that America stands for...

...and I mean the good stuff. Stuff like whiskey and weed. Woodstock and southern rock. Muscle cars and Route 66. Flannel shirts and cowboy hats. Silver spurs and drunken swirls. Trigger-happy western gunslingers. Yes sir...sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll!

Beggar's Ball surfs on the ever-rolling wave of guitar heroes, picking up influences from the likes of Velvet Revolver, Pantera and even Creedence Clearwater Revival as well as other veterans of that era. This début brings you the evergreen riffs, the oh-so-juicy passages and squealing six-stringers. Sleazy and dirty - just the way I like it.

There's just one thing bugging me. And it's got nothing to do with the music. The promo copy I received only had four songs on it. That's a real drag and normally I wouldn't even think about reviewing an album with only having heard half of it's tracks. But I'm willing to make an exception. And here's why: I know there's a lot of these hard rockers around but you know what? There's also never enough of them. And if you've got a great crew draining influences from the always fertile southern soil you've got very small chances of getting stuff down wrong. And I sincerely think Beggar's Ball's pure energy and honesty make them stand out from the bunch.

There's really not much I'd want to add right now. If you like the power that American rock bands deliver (think Rob Zombie, Kyuss and even Kid Rock) then "Fight This Town" is going to make you very, very happy. But there is one track that differs from the others quite a bit - "American Vocal" is a true old-school anthem, a homage to forefathers of rock in the vein of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the aforementioned Creedence Clearwater Revival.

"Fight This Town" has earned my first N/A rating. Having heard only four tracks I'm going to steer away from the usual numeric scale (what do numbers mean anyway?) but I'll do anything to get this album. And I recommend everyone who had a tingling sensation in their loins while reading this review to do the same. So let us not forget what ideals American music has stood for in the past. Think about the sixties - happiness, pure joy, rebellion and most importantly - free love (oh yea baby!). Of course Beggar's Ball ain't all about that but it sounds to me like these guys are in this band to have some fun, and after all that's what counts.

Balls to the walls!