UGLY KID JOE: "Uglier Than They Used Ta Be"

Rating: RRR
Label: Metalville/Rough Trade
Review by: Martien Koolen

I never tought that this would be possible, bringing out a new album after a 19 year hiatus; but it is. Notorious Ugly Kid Joe have released a brand new album featuring 9 new tracks and 2 covers. Uglier Than They Used Ta Be was recorded in Louisiana under the helm of no one less than Dave Fortman, who has worked with Godsmack, Evanescence and Slipknot in the past, and features a seven member line-up of the band. The excellent album starts with the first single Hell Ain't Hard To Find, an up tempo track with heavy funky riffs and great singing by Whitfield Crane. Third song Bad Seed is the first highlight and has a remarkable gritty bass guitar line and the guitar solo in that song is just sheer brilliance. Under The Bottom is a great rather heavy track and features a very Black Sabbath influenced guitar riff. Enemy the longest song on the album, kicks off as a ballad, before it resurrects into a very hard rock hitting end with phenomenal guitar solos. So far so good, but then we have the utterly boring acoustic ballad Nothing Ever Changes and the two cover songs and you know I hate acoustic songs and covers... Ace Of Spades (Motorhead) features Phil Campbell on guitar (he also plays on My Old Man and Under The Bottom) and on the second cover Papa Was A Rolling Stone (Temptations) UKJ is assisted by Dallas Frasca on vocals. Uglier Than They Used Ta Be is a good rock album (despite the acoustic song and the two covers) and it contains all of what was and still is Ugly Kid Joe and it was defintely worth the wait of 19 years. Recommended listening: Under The Bottom and Bad Seed!!