Eye On the Ceiling
Transmit Music Group/Nova Records

All too often, good players  in bands together just don’t seem to listen to each other. They wank away, oblivious to one another, missing an opportunity to create a powerful and unified attack. Not so with The Soupbone Throne. Their new CD, “Eye on the Ceiling,” displays the kind of cohesiveness that separates the very mediocre bands from the very goods ones.

Coby Dodd’s muscular voice is the focal point of the band’s sound, and you can almost hear him scowl as he sings, low and cutting (something like Ed Roland of Collective Soul and maybe a smidge of  Godsmack’s Sully Erna). Travis Barton’s drums confidently pound out rhythms for bassist Adam Horr and guitarist Cary Dodd to hang with. “Chemicals” showcases the band’s style perfectly. Smart and dark acoustic guitar parts (the album doesn’t have a single electric guitar) from Cary Dodd chime and chug under brother Coby’s menacing vocals as he sings “Pour her a nice tall glass of sacrifice / She wants a nice tall glass of sacrifice.” Horr punches out the bass lines and even gets into a funk feel from time to time without straying into cheeseville, and Barton’s snare cuts through with a satisfying and authoritative  “thwap!” throughout. It’s a dark tale about a serial killer, and much of the album is similarly black, if not macabre. The title track with it’s snaking guitar hook and “Vent” with it’s extra beefy rhythm work are also highlights on this “must have” for hard rock fans.

The Soupbone Throne are one of those bands whose songs are immediately familiar. Still, somehow they don’t ape their influences (Alice in Chains, The Doors, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), managing instead to mix them up into a unique stew of their own.  The arrangements are tight and efficient, and as a result the songs come off as more rocking with acoustic guitars than some bands manage with cranked and distorted electric guitars. Volume doesn’t necessarily equal power, balls do. Soupbone has ’em.