17th Street

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Bay Area progressive metal outfit Hammers of Misfortune's fifth outing brings to mind classic Deep Purple, Queen, and Judas Priest as filtered through Dream Theater's kaleidoscopic art rock lens. Led by guitarist/lyricist John Cobbett, 17th Street juggles power metal clichés, classic rock melodies, and doom metal breakdowns with equal aplomb, managing to circumvent any kind of eye rolling through sheer determination and earnestness. Key cuts include the weary, vaudevillian "The Day the City Died" and the blistering title track, the latter of which opens with a pair of crucial duel leads before launching into a brutish mix of Queens of the Stone Age and "Starship Troopers"-era Yes. Eclectic? Absolutely, but it never feels contrived, and when all of the disparate parts successfully align, as they do on the breathtaking Big Country-meets-Iron Maiden-inspired single "The Grain," it's like randomly spinning the dial on the radio and landing on your favorite song. ~ James Christopher Monger Show more