THE COMPANY BAND ‘The Company Band’ (Restricted Release) RATING: 6/10

By JEFF MAKI

The Company Band is somewhat of a stoner rock supergroup featuring Clutch vocalist Neil Fallon, Fireball Ministry frontman/guitarist James Rota, CKY drummer Jess Margera, guitarist Dave Bone and Fu Manchu bassist Brad Davis. On certain levels, I'm a fan of all of these bands, so I was eager to see what they would come up with. The end result is nothing as I imagined. Their debut album is a combination of the above bands with an unexpected, heaping dose of laid-back, '70s-style rock in the vein of classic Skynyrd or even Bob Seger. It also bears a resemblance to recent Clutch albums, of which I'm not a huge fan. (In my opinion, Clutch has never come close to topping their debut, Transnational Speedway League.) I'm not sure how they are going to go about marketing this, but be warned, this sounds nothing like CKY or Fireball Ministry—Fu Manchu, slightly.

The standouts are the most rocking song of the album, “Zombie Barricades” (a good title, but not quite as good as it sounds), and my personal favorite, “All's Well in Milton,” a classic rock ballad-type track with a great riff and Skynyrd vibe.

I'm a little disappointed, but even though this album is average at best, there's still this laid- back swagger that the members bring to the table and a looseness coming from Clutch and Fu Manchu. But I was expecting a lot more.