Rogue Stereo - From End to Start

Rogue Stereo

From End to Start
self-released; 2014

3.5 out of 5

By Ethan Skelton

Whoa. That was a hell of an opening Rogue Stereo on their album From End to Start. I couldn't tell if I was coming or going or if it was even a song yet when "Rock Away" slammed into my earhole. It was obviously a held out jam bam wave barrage. And in no time it was time to lay down the punk rock with just a little nod to ‘80s hair metal. I'm cool with the mix and the way they embrace their dual styles of played out nostalgia, but it's like The Ramones - except not because you can't reproduce that.

Time will tell if these guys branch out a little further into their own sound. I give them some well-earned respect for putting the album together from essentially scratch. True artists don't always come in the form you'd expect and this is so often true in an emerging rock scene. 

These guys are putting their best on the table and don't care if it's great, crap or whatever. They understand it's about being happy in your work and finding pride and confidence in what you do. This album is for the music lovers, not the radio fodder, not the chart zombies, and definitely not for the sell-outs. "Paint the walls with my insanity," requests the vocalist on "Breakdown." That lyric stuck with me well beyond this album's duration. Songwriting, check. 

I think the standout track for me is "Michael Wood." If there's one song that hits the mark as far as the contemporary rock star, it's this little beaut. Chugging simple and fun progression with aggression and sexual alluding, check. Talk of cougars and freakiness meet the grit of your average bear bar buster. The song might be about a girlfriend or just a girl, either way she's helping things by being that drug or vice that we all get from time to time. Use your significant other however you please gentlemen.

And like the madness that raged to start things off we end with a party rock anthem, "Black Stallion." Complete with wound up guitar assault and will cat vocals this one never lets off the pedal. The drums punctuate and blast off sixteenths whenever a pocket is presented. Don't forget the half time either, it hits like it should every time.

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