Band:	Chrome Division
Album:	3rd Round Knockout
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	May 06, 2011
Guest review by:	tuerda

01. Bulldogs Unleashed
02. 7 G-Strings
03. Join The Ride
04. Unholy Roller
05. Zombies & Monsters
06. Fight (Rumble 'n' Roll)
07. The Magic Man
08. Long Distance Call Girl
09. Ghost Riders In The Sky [Johnny Cash cover]
10. Satisfy My Soul

To say Chrome Division does not stray far from the beaten path is an understatement. I mean, it is hard nowadays to contribute anything new to a genre as thoroughly explored as heavy metal, but Chrome Division doesn't even try. As the cover might make you guess, there is nothing on 3rd Round Knockout that Motörhead didn't do already, and Motörhead did it better.

That being said, if you are just going to follow along in someone else's footsteps, it is hard to do it in a more entertaining way. What sets this album apart is just how campy and silly it is. At the start, it felt contrived as hell. I thought the humor was a last resort to try to keep the album from falling flat on its face. Pretty soon, though, I stopped thinking about that because I was too busy laughing. I mean, right in the middle of "bulldogs unleashed" there is this slow section and on top of the relative silence, we get these lyrics:

Your woman will be miiiiine!
Watch me take her hooooome!

I mean, if that's not comedy gold, I don't know what is. The rest of the album only gets better. Also, it's the kind of comedy that is still funny even when you know it is coming. No matter how many times I play this, I still love it, and I find myself singing along.

Musically, the whole thing comes together pretty well. The riffs are about as solid as what you might expect from a band trying to sound like Motörhead, and are executed quite competently. The extreme campiness manages to find a way to pay homage to that awesome band, rather than poke fun of them.

All in all, if you take Chrome Division seriously, then it is really just a disposable Motörhead ripoff.

If you listen to this as it was intended (and with songs like "7 G strings" and "Zombies and Monsters" there is little doubt that this is how it was intended) then you will find an album that is really a lot of fun.