When a band deals mainly in straight-ahead,
no-frills rock, it helps to have a secret weapon, and The BellRays have one in
frontwoman Lisa Kekaula. The singer's equal adeptness at balls-out, arena-sized
shouting and soulful crooning earns the group its "rock 'n' soul" descriptor,
and lends interest to its otherwise by-the-numbers garage rock. Not that
there's anything wrong with good, solid riffs, something else the group's
eighth album, Hard, Sweet And Sticky, has in spades. After 18 years together, The
BellRays are in clear command of the sounds they crib from, alternating between
trashy, thrashing punk-laced tunes like "Infection" and "Psychotic Hate Man"
and sultry slow-burners like "The Fire Next Time" and "Wedding Bells." It
sounds a bit too spit-shined at times, and the chugging riffs, while
propulsive, can be a little same-y—but that doesn't make the album any
less exhilarating, especially when Kekaula shows what she can do. Hard,
Sweet And Sticky
reaches across a narrow spectrum of rock music, but it manages to hit all the
sweet spots along the way.