1000 Yard Stare Phoenix AZ

1000 Yard Stare

doubleDrive

MCA Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/06/1999

I know it has to drive some bands bonkers to have theirhard-earned work compared to other groups who have been around,even for only a short time. Sometimes, the comparison is notflattering; other times, it's meant as a high compliment.

Take Atlanta-based Doubledrive, for instance. Their soundreminds me a lot of Creed, only with a harder edge to their music.Their debut album 1000 Yard Stare (to be released August 17th) should take therock scene by storm - and you might find this one hard to take outof the CD player.

The band - vocalist/guitarist Donnie Ray Hamby, guitarist TroyMxLawhorn, bassist Joshua Sattler and drummer Mike Froedge - packan immense sonic whallop that can be heard almost from the outsetof this album. My advance copy doesn't tell me who produced thisgem (and I don't seem to have the bio handy - I'm a little bitbehind sorting them), but they pull an absolutely brilliant soundout. Froedge's drums are the crispest sounding instances of trapwork I've heard in years.

Thrilling, you say, he's impressed with the drum sound. How'sabout the rest of the music? Patience, grasshopper, we're gettingto that. Doubledrive seems to have already mastered the art ofsongwriting, with tracks such as "Dressed In Light," "TattooedBruise," "Hell" and the title track all shining brightly on thisdisc. It sometimes seems impossible that a four-piece is wringingall this sound out of their instruments, but they are indeed.Simply put, it's a tour de force.