Rebel Train
CD – 'Nothing Sacred'


The title track, which leads off this CD, begins with the voice of a man saying, “Honey, I’m home.” Then he asks why the door is locked as the music begins. In the middle of the song, Steve Kyle sarcastically recites a minister’s instructions during a wedding ceremony. Yup, nothing sacred here.
This in-your-face attitude continues all through this heavy CD. This trio puts out a full sound, Kyle on guitars, Nathan Floyd on bass, and Bob Taylor on drums. Rebel Train calls themselves southern influenced, and their name certainly sounds like it, but all I hear is rock influenced by metal.
Kyle sings instead of screams and his guitar is not tuned down to sludge level, so they do not quite fit the metal category. “On the Wing” sounds suspiciously like a ballad. Kyle plays a nifty Dobro on “Shotgun Wedding”. And the lyrics are not of the dungeons and dragons/hellbound/fantasy variety.
Instead, on these songs all written by the band, we have three guys whose success with women is about the same as the United States’ progress in conquering Iraq. “Till death do you part/weighs on me like a murder charge” and “If you think things are so complicated/you might just try to sit back and shut your mouth” are two examples of the lyrics.
The band compares themselves to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ZZ Top. Again, I don’t see it. But they rock just as hard.
Website at http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/6334 (it can be reached from www.rebeltrain.com).

- Dave Howell