During the 70's, Hard Rock suffered a total revolution due the appearance of AC/DC. They came from Australia and blew the musical richness used by many bands to pieces with a simple, dirty and Blues-based form of music where instrumental technique wasn't the most important thing at all, but the energy and impact of their music was amazing. And that way of playing music keeps influencing many bands, as the German trio BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES, because "Breaking Bad" shows it clearly.

As told above, their music follows the ways of the Australian quintet, unleashing a storm of energy based on a form of music without compromises of being technically accurate or melodically tender. No, their music sounds rough and truly aggressive, but with those melodies that catches the fans at first hearing, and that frantic and unstoppable energy that everyone knows. Of course that their musical work isn't new at all, but it is very good. The sound quality of "Breaking Bad" shows the same good elements of the past, trying to focus only on the more organic tunes the band could find, but always searching for something that can be understood easily on the first hearing. It's not perfect, but works in a very good way.

"Chain Dog" (with those sinuous and greasy guitar riffs and easy melodies that are hard to resist to), "Done and Dusted" (that follows the same trend of the previous one, with the tempos being a bit slower), the accessible ones "Gamble and Love" and "Belly Up" (both with a solid rhythmic work, what means that the works from bass guitar and drums are very good), and the Bluesy Rock 'n' Roll song "Rock 'n' Roll" are the best shots of the album. The only 'but' left to say is that the voice of Insane can sound incompatible at the first hearing, but on the second time, becomes easier to assimilate, so be patient.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES is really a good name, as "Breaking Bad" shows, although it will never sound as something new and different from everything you heard before.