Band : Colt.44
Album title : One Horse Town
Label : Casket Music – Copro Records
Distributor : PHD
Release date : 03/11/2008
Release : CD

After having cut their teeth with several bands in different genres and honed their skills in spite of finding co-members lacking in ability and career prospects, friends Adam Jerome (guitar/ backing vocals) and Pat Ramsen (bass/ backing vocals) got together in February of last year to form a 4-piece Nu-Metal band. Through a friend of Adam's they then found drummer/ backing vocalist Matt Savini, as well as a lead singer, and formed Colt.44.

They started to write the kind of songs they liked best: heavy, down-tuned riffs with loads of melody and classic Rock solos, and...above all...real singing with plenty of backing vocals. Progress was slow at first, and due to internal problems the lead singer was ousted. Adam took over his role, and the band's been goin' as a three-piece ever since. Gigs then started coming in real quickly and in good amounts, and somehow the live environment changed the character of the tunes from what they were before into what they are today: a blend of modern American Rock, Punk, and Grunge, with influences apparently "...ranging from Bon Jovi to Killswitch Engage, from Dream Theater to Seether..." (other influences mentioned on the band's MySpace page include Breed 77, Disturbed, Drowning Pool, Ill Niño, Life Of Agony, Manowar, Metallica, Motley Crüe, and Tool)...gaining the band a total of 45 gigs in London and the South East of England...in less than a year!

Eventually, they were bound to attract the attention of some record label, and apparently the people at Casket Music were the first to appreciate the band at their value! I'm not sure whether the boys first made their record (at Escape Route studios with producer Dan Abela, whom the guys now call their friend) and were then picked up by the label, or whether a deal for the album was made before the guys went into the studio, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters to us, music freaks, is that Colt.44 now have a debut album out in the stores! Of the 10 songs on the album, the band has posted 3 at myspace.com/colt442. The first two ("Sick" and "These Scars" also happen to open the album) are of the more energetic kind, the third shows the band at its most vulnerable with the almost completely acoustic (electric instruments only coming in in the last 50 seconds of the song) "Come Home". Enough to showcase evidence of a very nice band in its genre. Nov. 1st sees the band recording a music video for "Sick" in Hampshire, so let's hope it hits the music tv channels soon enough after.

89/100

Tony.