Jr Juggernaut - Ghost Poison

by Nadeem Ali

MOR alt-country-punk

"If even only half the album came close to reaching the honest-to-god levels of genuine goodness of ‘Early Morning Mass’ it would be a more than qualified success."

The press release makes Jr Juggernaut sound like the most awesome band on the planet. How can a band compared to Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr., Crazy Horse and Uncle Tupelo not rule? And yet Jr Juggernaut are far from awesome and not even close to ruling. This country-punk is neutered and spayed devoid of either country or punk rebellion. This is the sound of mainstream American alternative rock at its bland worst. Jr Juggernaut get lost in their own hoarse over earnestness to deliver real gut punching heart on sleeve rocking. Hot Water Music got close to perfecting rootsy punk rock.

Occasionally they get close to sounding like the real thing. They begin to fulfil the PR hype. Scuffed melodies and sharp riffs come together briefly promising what could have been had the band followed their hearts. For the most part though ‘Ghost Poison’ is lacklustre, life sapping stuff. It is easy to imagine Jr Juggernaut as the pointless soundtrack to pointless shows like One Tree Hill or Dawson’s Creek.

The heartfelt mid-tempo hard rock of ‘Early Morning Mass’ is where the band actually delivers the goods they promised us all. This hook ridden little monster with its squalling Mascis-lite guitar solo, satisfyingly chunky riffs and crushing climax is so close to perfect that the fact it is surrounded by such dross will make you weep. If even only half the album came close to reaching the honest-to-god levels of genuine goodness of ‘Early Morning Mass’ it would be a more than qualified success. The pulverising ‘Wailing West’ suggests that ‘Early Morning Mass’ was no one-off fluke. It growls and grinds with spite and fury its way to another wonderfully guitar shredding conclusion. ‘Gone Before You Start’ is perfectly pleasant hook-laden pop-rock with just enough bite to rescue it from the soporific shenanigans that affect most of ‘Ghost Poison’.

If it wasn’t for two unbelievably strong songs it would be easy to write off Jr Juggernaut completely. But those songs make the failure of ‘Ghost Poison’ all the more frustrating. Download those two songs, forget the rest and hope the band begin to realise their strengths.

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