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Automag:
Hellbound
Automags debut full-length, Hellbound, is a concept album. Now, usually, the concept comes through in the songs alone, but Automag decided to help their fans out by including a story in the liner notes which runs alongside the lyrics. The plot line? Two teen boys being raised in the South by their hard-livin mom end up murdering their abusive new stepfather. Confronting the boys, the dead mans best friend, J.C., kills the older teen, but convinces the cops it was in self-defense, and the younger boy is sent to prison for three years on an attempted robbery charge. When he gets out, he hunts down J.C. and kills him, planning a life on the run. So based on that, you probably have a pretty good idea of what this music sounds like. Automag, hailing from North Carolina, describe it as an unprecedented mix of Southern rock and metal, and maybe it is, but it still sounds rather familiar. The lead singer reminds one of Metallicas James Hetfield, although he lacks the drawn-from-the-abyss fury Hetfield can conjure at his best moments. And the music is typical hard-charging guitar-bass-drums rock, but with the occasional Allmans-influenced guitar break thrown on top. A novel combination, perhaps, but the individual parts are virtual carbon-copies of the past. Theres no doubt that the three men of Automag would blow the roof off just about any rock club, but sheer volume alone does not powerful music make. The problem with Automag is that, on disc at least, they dont come across as genuine New Southern Outlaws a label theyve bestowed upon themselves. Although Hellbound aims to give a voice to those whove been forced by unthinkable circumstances to make hard choices, lines such as Like a shark Im swimmin / Lock up your women / Dont let them out of your sight . . . / Cause Im ready to ride arent exactly empathy-inducing. More importantly, Automag tend to oversimplify, boiling the characters in their story down to stereotypes weve all met before and probably hoped not to cross paths with again. Thats not to say Hellbound is all bad. Tuning the lyrics out, most of the songs here are solid enough to be headbang-worthy, and thats why Im sure Automag would come off better on the stage than in the studio (if metal is your thing). And there are a couple of tunes whose lyrics surprise, too. On Tonight, which tells of the boys plan to do in their vicious step-dad, they sing Momma . . . / Float away on the river of tears you cried / Hold on now and everything will be alright . . . / Because he wont be coming home tonight. Moments like these, combined with some of the better songwriting, make one think that if Automag could just reach down a little deeper, they might be able to do greater justice to the painful stories they wish to tell. But as it stands, most of Hellbound musically and lyrically fails to wear the creed of the new southern outlaw.
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