CD Title: Wasted Heart
Year: 2008
Website: duff-loaded.com
MySpace: myspace.com/loadedlamf
Label: Century Media
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive
Rating: 8.5 / 10
More Links: Please feel free to discuss Duff McKagan's Loaded in the Loucifer Speaks forum.
I don't know why, but it feels strange to call this band "Duff McKagan's Loaded" rather than just "Loaded". I originally discovered Loaded when they released their "Dark Days" album (which, by the way, is fantastic) and so, when I heard that they were going to be releasing a brand new EP, I knew that I had to get it.
Now, I have to apologise for this, but I can't get through this review without mentioning Mr McKagan's other musical adventures - Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver. These two bands are/were huge... with frontmen with huge egos to match. Loaded seems to be a lot more down to earth. This is fun, honest and completely lacks any of the bullshit. I love GN'R... but even I admit that there was (or is?!) a lot of bullshit surrounding them...
Duff's vocals suit this music perfectly (the music tends to lean more towards punk/rock than GN'R or VR did) and his singing has definitely improved since "Believe In Me".
This EP has some great moments on it - check out "IOU" and "Sleaze Factory" - but I can't help thinking that it needed something more. The songs are great, but I just didn't find myself relating to them as much as the tracks on "Dark Days" - perhaps they just need a little bit more time to grow on me. I would have also preferred to hear a couple more uptempo tracks, but hey - you can't have everything, right?
High points: "IOU", "Sleazy Factory", "No More".
Low points: "Wasted Heart"