Cattle Callin

Personnel: Hank Williams III (vocals, electric guitar, keyboards, drums).
Audio Mixer: Hank Williams III.
Recording information: The Haunted Ranch, TN.
Never let it be said that Hank Williams III hasn't brought something new and different to the world of heavy metal. Danny Barnes of the Bad Livers once opined that a really fast speed metal tune was roughly the same tempo as an ordinary bluegrass breakdown, and Hank3 seems to have reached a similar corollary regarding the verbal speed of punk rock howlers like H.R. of the Bad Brains or Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks, and the syllable-crushing skills of a good auctioneer. Credited to Hank 3's 3 Bar Ranch, Cattle Callin is a 75-minute exercise in a genre Williams calls "Cattle Core," in which he marries speed metal guitar figures and high velocity double-kick drumming to recordings of livestock auctioneers as Hank cranks out neck-snapping tempos and sheets of metallic noise, while guys shout out one price after another for this steer or that heifer with a velocity that makes Hank sound like he's the one straining to keep up. If this sounds like a joke, Hank seems to be having fun with it, but he also shows a genuine respect for the these guys and their very real talents, and the music he weaves around the auctioneer's calls not only makes reasonable sense but twists in and out of the patterns of these found vocals with rough-hewn grace (though the pace is fast and relentless enough that there isn't much rhythmic ebb and flow). Hank played all the instruments on Cattle Callin', and though his performances don't have much swing, they've got impact to spare, and for a while this album is good, manic fun. The problem with Cattle Callin' is that it goes on far too long -- 30 minutes or so of this is invigorating, but by the time this disc comes to an end, the novelty has worn off and it's just grating (though Hank saves one of the best tunes for the next to last track, the double-time banjo workout "Cattle Callin' Lonesome Blues)." Cattle Core may well have a future as a metal subgenre, but Hank3 may want to shoot for an EP or a single next time rather than filling up a whole CD as he does on Cattle Callin. ~ Mark Deming