The second album in nine years for Milwaukee hard-rockers Blame It On Cain reveals just how much vocals can inform the perception of a band. For all of BIOC’s assured moves that blur the line between classic hard rock and current commercial radio metal, lead singer Sam Boettcher maintains the youthful, urgent tone of a kid fronting a fledgling pop punk band. What could have been an annoyance or distraction turns instead to be a fortuitous dichotomy that doesn’t wear out its welcome over the course of Big Down Under’s eight songs.
The one song the band claims to be their punk effort, oddly, finds Boettcher in one of his more mature moments. And it still sounds pretty metallic. When Steve Draganchuk and Steven Anderson employ their respective guitar and bass on power chords, riffs and solos, the heaviness quotient increases considerably. The quartet’s versatility extends to a respectable acoustic-led, mid-tempo power ballad and a Stone Temple Pilots remake that isn’t executed to out-grunge the original.
