Album Review: The Orbitsuns - First Drink of the Day (313 Records)

If you judge a book by its cover, then you will probably have a preconceived idea of what to expect from this latest offering from Detroit's The Orbitsuns before you even press the play button. The stark white image on a jet black ground depicts a fiery bottle containing everything from guitars, guns, a skull, dollar symbol, a deck of cards and the obligatory naked women; not exactly a collection of pious church hymns with some Home on the Range sensibility, that's for sure. True to the cover, what we have on FIRST DRINK OF THE DAY is some pretty hard rocking, hard talking, hard living country rock, with no small measure of attitude. 

From the start, How Red White and Blue Are You, with its pulsating bass line and sneering guitar break, sets the pace for the rest of the album to keep up with. Whilst Die With My Boots On offers some temporary respite from the gritty rock anthems, with its mandolin-led folksy feel, Trains comes along just on time, imbued with all the necessary musical sound effects that give the distinct feel of riding the freights. If the band must have a go at a potential line dance favourite, then they return to Redneck Disco, which once again does the trick, but with some drunken redneck bedlam at the same time. Speaking of drink, the demon alcohol has its fair share of playing time on this album from the title cut First Drink of the Day, by way of the toe-tapping rockabilly of Booze Hound to the crash and burn closer Speed and Alcohol; even Church on Sunday ends up in the bar by nightfall.

The Orbitsuns stray temporarily into a tender moment with the Tex Mex flavoured Who You Lookin Pretty For Today, which incorporates some pretty guitar playing courtesy of Sir Tim Duvalier. With all songs written by main man Vin Dombroski, formerly of both Sponge and Crud, who also shares guitar duties with Duvalier, the album indicates clearly what you might get from an Orbitsuns live performance. The band also comprises Jim Paluzzi on drums and Bob Hecker on bass, with vocal contributions from all concerned.   

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	The Orbitsuns First Drink Of The Day THREE ONE THREE RECORDS 2010-06-01