Hilljack - Hilljack (1997)

TRACKLIST:

01. Ain't No Fun
02. Too Damn Sober
03. Just An Alcoholic
04. I'll Drink To That
05. Rock And Roll
06. Catfish Food
07. Human Garbage Can
08. Durchficken
09. Dogs Of War
10. Out Of The Sun
11. Ego Insane
12. Steppin' The Dog
13. Close Enough (For Rock & Roll)

Line Up:
Michael Hannon - vocals and electric bass
Chuck Wolfe - guitars and vocals
Keith Pickens - drums

Anyone that is in favor of political correctness may as well run for cover before "Catfish Food" hits the speakers, this isn't an album for the squeamish. Those that are familiar with American Dog will remember Hilljack as being the group that morphed into the aforementioned band. A couple of these tunes even surfaced on the Six Pack EP even though every song here would easily fit on any American Dog album as the lyrical content deals with drinking...and more drinking.
Band leader Michael Hannon displayed his chops with Salty Dog, Dangerous Toys and Bogus Toms before taking up the mic himself with Hilljack. But Hilljack is rawer and grittier than any of those bands - it is dirty barroom trash. Just check out the lyrics on "Just An Alcoholic", "I'd even shit a brick for a bottle or two" - does much more need to be said?
Musically "Rock And Roll" has a cool swagger about it as Hannon proclaims, "Don't follow the trends, all we play is real rock and roll" - and rock and roll is what it is, with aggressive vocals and plenty of guitar leads. The musical blueprint of "Rock And Roll" is used throughout, like "Human Garbage Can" - a song about those of us that can't shove enough booze into our bodies. "Dogs Of War" may be the best track here, a full steam ahead rock song that is relentless. - Michael sounds like he was singing this during a bad attitude hang-over moment. Few people can turn attitude into an art form like Frank C. Starr was able to do, but I think it is safe to lump Michael Hannon into that category as well.