Established since the 70s, MOLLY HATCHET would rightfully be considered a veteran of classic Rock.  The album "Regrinding the Axe" is set up as a reinforcement to this claim of truth; the band revisits and refreshes several classic cover songs once thought to be worn out by drunk middle-aged Americans in karaoke bars.  The album got off to a great start with vocalist Phil McCormack'shusky vocal restoration of the commercially overplayed "Bad to the Bone",originally performed by GEORGE THOROGOOD AND THE DESTROYERS.  With songs like "Mississippi Queen" and "Sharp Dressed Man", MOLLY HATCHET manages to maintain the basic structure and style of these MOUNTAIN and ZZ TOP anthems while still providing that magical MOLLY HATCHET touch.

I will admit however, there was a song or two in particular made me seriously contemplate the legitimacy of MOLLY HATCHET's attempted comeback. I don't know what kind of shenanigans and double dog dares were going on inside the studio when it was decided that the band would be covering "Free Bird",but that song just seems like it should be untouchable.  Granted, Bobby Ingram andDavid Hlubek did not let LYNYRD SKYNYRD down in their shredding guitar parts. But that song just has a certain "untouchable" stigma to it that somehow made me go into that song with an already somewhat negative attitude. A warning to Metalheads: the latter part of this album contains a crap load of country music Between "Melissa" and "Wild Horses", I started to get the sudden urge to wear a ten gallon hat and to attempt to chug down a lukewarm bottle of Jack Daniels. I refuse to ignite any sort of Country commentary, so I will end by saying that I did enjoy the bonus live track solos at the end.

That being said, I have mixed feelings about the contents of this MOLLY HATCHET comeback. On one hand, the band did an amazing job restoring the classic rock songs that we all thought we were getting sick of and never wanted to hear again for the rest of our lives.  On the other hand, I can't stand Country.