DR. AWKWARD AND THE SCREWS are a Stoner styled, Heavy Blues band that relies heavily on a 70's Rock/Blues Rock vibe. The band comes to us from Athens as another Greek band hoping to claim their take of the ever growing dominance of metal in the world of music. "Getting out of Style" is their second release, and follows their 2017 self-titled EP release.

The album opens with a straight forward stoner rocker titled "Take Me Down". The dual guitars wielded by John and Kostas lay down quite the effective blues rock riffage, and the solo that closes the song is outstanding as is the drumming here and throughout the remainder of the album. Vocalist and bassist Greg has his bass way up in the mix which adds a nice low end counter to the guitar work. Unfortunately his vocal style just doesn't connect with me at all. There's little to no range and the vocals just seem forced overall.

Pretty quickly one realizes that there's little originality or creativeness happening here. That's a shame, as it's apparent that the band has the chops musically. They just never branch out of comfortable territory. The majority of the songs rely on pretty standard blues scales, and despite occasional flashes, the album falls a bit into the mundane and even seems repetitive. "Doomed" has the darkest elements, almost approaching an almost Doom vibe, while "Low Life Groove" contains suggestions of a NWOBHM influence. Sadly, these two tracks are probably the most unique of the songs presented here.

I really wanted to like this album more than I did. Over the past couple of years bands have drastically raised the bar when it comes to originality and innovation in Metal and Hard Rock. Some of the most memorable music is currently being created, recorded and released. I just don't find any of that momentum to be present here. While "Getting out of Style" certainly has its merits, overall I found it too timid and to inclined to stay in its comfort zone.