The Angel City Outcasts – Self-Titled

Back when my family bought their very first computer I was introduced to world of wonderful and imaginative video games.  First person shooters, puzzle games, side scrollers – you name it, I played it.  Looking back, a lot of those games don’t hold up today, but there was one game in particular that to this day holds a special place in my heart.  That game is Lucasarts’ Full Throttle.  The tale of Ben, a tough-as-nails biker gang alpha male set-up by an evil corporation, completely captivated me.  And to this day, as soon as I hear Full Throttle’s opening theme song, a chill runs down my spine and I’m transported to a land of leather studded southern outlaws and strips of rolling highway.

So when I first started listening to Los Angeles outlaws The Angel City Outcasts, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia roll over me.  The band’s sound is the closest thing I’ve heard to that memorable theme song – “Legacy” by The Gone Jackals – in well over a decade.  The Outcasts ride a style of rock heavy on outlaw attitude without ever feeling like a western or southern band.  The opening track even has a confident arrogance, with frontman Tak Boroyan speaking for the band like a ringleader for his circus.  He yells: “let me introduce to you a band of outlaws and sounds and sights the likes you’ve never seen” before he goes on to describe his “tent singin,” “gun slingin,” “bass slappin,” “safe crackin” crew.  The Angel City Outcasts are a modern breed of outlaw, who in their self-titled full length strives at transforming today’s pubs and clubs into yesterday’s lively saloons.

By and large the album plays like a high-octane thrill ride and rock n’ roll tribute.  The band opens with “Five Guns West,” wasting no time jumping into a fray of intense solos, lively bridges, and swaggering choruses.  Much of the time Boroyan trades off between vocals and guitar, punctuating the soundscape with rebellious riffs.  Sometimes lyrics like “you’ve gotta take life by the balls and never let it go” on “Get It Right” sound mighty close to classic rock outfits like ACDC, or Guns n’ Roses, but never come across as cheap imitators.

While Angel City Outcasts is largely a guitar heavy affair, there are a few roses to be found on the Outcasts’ thorny hides.  For example, “Wild Hearts” serves as a breather, introducing a rich acoustic approach, complete with a particularly emotional violin.  Furthermore, “Hold On” finds Boroyan entering a duet with a female vocalist for something decidedly different.  All these little tweaks are a nice change of pace that prove The Outcasts are closer to well rounded rodeo stars than short lived one trick ponies.

Angel City Outcasts is a really solid piece of outlaw rock from a band that clearly knows what they’re doing.  They’re certainly not reinventing anything – or even adding anything terribly new – but what’s there certainly stands on its own.  And while I may have entered this western road trip for the nostalgia, I found myself staying for the new sights on a familiar route.