The John’s Guerrilla run naked through 6 songs fairly quickly on All Power to the People, but seem to don different personae in each track. The first single offers the glimpse of the group as hip hop artists with teethy sensational lyrics. They also cover 80′s synth rock, early 90′s rock, and punk. It’s breezy and fun, and most importantly it rocks with some bearable and sometimes incomprehensible Engrish.
The way Leo Imumura croons, he has this 80′s rock voice that contains grit like a Whitfield Crane from Ugly Kid Joe and a sexy swaggar of say a Paul Dean of Loverboy fame. It’s so retro rock, but like right before grunge hit. Think of bands like Skid Row, GN’R and early Offspring.
Yes, this mini-album blazes by, beginning with two straight forward rock tracks “Phase One” and “My Name is Freedom.”
“E.N.E.M.Y” follows and of course is the stand out track on the album. “Here we go!” he repeats and thru anger growls that “he’s taking back his tasty life.” It’s an aggressive number where he compares himself to the plane that rammed into the twin towers on 9/11, he calls himself a GOD and even brands himself with the dreaded and not repeatable “N-word.” Yes, he says the N-word. I’d like to think his message is parody of rap in general, but who the heck knows?
I mean the song right after is the more serious “Dear Adventure,” a southern fried rocker with a soulful and screaming guitar that screams of freedom and escape. And after that, “Brotherhood” has laser beam 80′s in its sights, that recalls INXS , Bon Jovi and the Cult. It’s fucking killer.
Finally the last track “Stay Cool” sounds oddly familiar. The beginning vocals and riffs remind me a whole hell of a lot like Ellegarden’s “Salamander,” but it morphs into something more fight worthy. And before you can say “turn it up!” the CD is over. The good news is that it leaves you wanting more..
I recommend it, definitely. But you will wish there was a little bit more meat on the bone. Three decent tracks + three AWESOME tracks out of 6 is pretty good. All Power to the People is available at CDJapan released 7.4.2012.
Mini-album gets a mini-score: 3.5 out of 5.
Grab your boombox and head over to the John’s Guerrilla official website.
