Album Review :
The Hotshot Freight Train - The Devil Pays in Counterfeit

Artist: The Hotshot Freight Train
Album: The Devil Pays in Counterfeit
Label: Future Destination Records
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. Love like Heroin
2. Zoltar
3. Liars Like Us
4. My Dear, Sweet Little Faith
5. Appalachia
6. Had I Known
7. Too Close to Let Go
8. My Holy Spirit
9. Don’t Fight It
10. This Train
11. On and On

Combining punk with good old rock and roll, along with a swig of indie, The Hotshot Freight Train continue to perfect their sound and strive for originality with their latest release, The Devil Pays in Counterfeit. The guitar tones, riffs, and solos are all a wonderful nod to the 70s, but the overall feel remains modern and unique, with vocals (and especially gang vocals) that show a definite love for unpolished punk. The standout track in my mind is “Appalachia,” a tribute to the band’s homeland, “where the Bible and the cross are as visible as the sun, and endless debt and addiction have our children on the run,” but the guitar solos alone in “My Holy Spirit” and “Don’t’ Fight It” are enough to set those tracks apart as well for the sake of their soul-hitting grooves and feelingful melodies. Spiritual themes are frequent but not constant, as general life issues are discussed throughout, and always in a thoughtful and poignant way.

8/10

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