STARIFIED, are a traditional Power Trio, Guitar, Bass and Drums.  Less traditional is the Drummer is the singer.  And like a lot of the best Power Trios from History, CREAM and many eras of MOTORHEAD, what they lack in members, they more than make up in noise.

Their sound is a blend of the above and classic bands from the sixties to today.  BLACK SABBATH and LED ZEP to The FOO FIGHTERS and QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and many stops in between, to make a sound of their own.

They range from a big SABs plodding riff fest of opening track "Scapegoat" crawling into the ZEP-like riff, "Don Loco", before it launches into its own blend of weirdness, especially in the vocals. On to "Fat Kids". Carrying on the giant riffs and mentally good drumming, and having into a powerful chorus.  Being a "Fat Kid" myself I can relate to this (OK Kid is pushing it, but Old Geezer doesn't work).

Whilst obviously wearing ALL their influences and heroes on their sleeves, the end result it has is it created is a very idiosyncratic, and at times, a very individual sound.  Definitely the whole is better than the sum of its parts.  "Pick A Fight" and "What If" being my personal favorites, both proper blends of the old and new, and both fresh and freaky.

Interestingly where, for me, it works the least, is where they sound like the modern stuff.  "Wider Lane" and "Noah" and "Same Old River" which have all the pop sensibilities that Dave Grohl brings to the FOOs, and are the least interesting tracks for me.  But hey still have some very quirky parts which catch the ears.  But I am not a FF fan so these don't work so well for me.

After reading their blurb, my expectations were not high, and I was fully prepared to not like this.  Man was I wrong! The only reason this isn't getting a 10 is the three tracks above, but they have only lost them 1 point.

These guys deserve to be HUGE.  I think they could work well with  wider audience.  Ironically it would probably be all the songs I'm not so keen on that would open doors for them, but hopefully they would be the gateway drug to the good stuff just below the surface. Definitely one of the most interesting and different things I've listened too for a long time.