earBuzz.com
AUGUST 1999

earBuzz Review: BUY IT, GET IT NOW. We only have ten copies. We can get more, probably, but get this now. Don't even hesitate. Just click buy - we don't make but a few bucks on each CD, so we're not telling you this so we can get rich. Really. Just buy this CD now or suffer knowing that you could have had their first CD before anyone knew about them. Really. Just do it. Do it now. If you don't, and we have copies left in two weeks, I'll buy them myself and give them to friends who will appreciate finding Ron Thal, aka Bumblefoot, one of the best guitarist/singer/songwriter metal thrash alternative brilliant players to push the "record" button. Watch the language here, because you won't find it in another review - Ron Thal is a GREAT FU*@ING GUITARIST.  Click on the mp3 file for Hands solo - go ahead...  I'll wait here. . . . .. . . waiting. . . . clicked? listened? OKAY?!! Now buy it. (we saved that file as "hansolo.mp3" because Han saved the rebel cause) See, no review would help. Indescribably delicious and surprisingly un-indulgent for a guitarist of Thal's caliber - classy hard-core smart-ass "fun with the 2 and the 4" stuff. Wow. .. . I'm going to go play it again. . see ya, bye.

On the musical originality scale, Bumblefoot's CD, Hands, ranks tight up there with releases from Mr. Bungle and Faith No More.  As a matter of fact, Bumblefoot can sometimes be mistaken for either of these bands.  This is anything but a rip-off band though.   Bumblefoot blends funk and alternative metal with a bit of rap, traditional rock, and God knows what else, to produce some incredibly inspired, scorching songs.     One such song, "Drunk," with it's chorus of "Re-tasting nachos/Exhaling beer/I love getting drunk," exemplifies how musically brilliant this band can be.  The fellas who make up Bumblefoot, know how to tweak a song to the point of combustion.  These musical arsonists obviously have talent, now they have to trust it and not push so hard.