INTRODUCING: LINE OF FIRE

It's time yet again for me to introduce you to another band. I happened upon North Carolina-based Line of Fire through my myspace page. Any of you who have a myspace profile probably know that it's not uncommon to get random friend requests from bands who are either in your region or who fit your interests. Most of the time, these bands aren't worth a second look.

Line of Fire, however, is certainly worth a second, third, and fourth listen.

Let me paint the picture for you. You're driving in your car. You reach down, grab Line of Fire's CD and pop it in. As the first few chords unleash themselves from your speakers, your car suddenly begins to morph into a 1984 Camaro with T-top. You reach up to feel your hair, only to feel your nice business cut has grown out into a full-blown mullet. You look down and your jeans are acid washed and ripped, and you have a Motley Crue t-shirt on. Suddenly, your girlfriend is in the passenger side, wearing a pink sweatshirt and leg warmers with her mile high hair and bullet-proof poofy bangs. You're banging your head. You're in an 80's hair band dream!

That's the beauty of Line of Fire. They perfectly capture the feel of rock and roll as it was in the 80's and very early 90's, and they do it in ways that bands like the Darkness have failed to. They bring rock and roll back to a time when it was just that: rock and roll!!

Let's take a look at the song samples on their myspace profile. First off is "Live and Let Go," which sounds like the song that Journey tried to do their whole career. The tune gets up under you with lyrics like "you've got the fire inside," and it just BEGS to be played on your car tape deck with the top dropped and the windows down. There's a bit of Don Henley, Steve Perry, and Jani Lane influence in Shawn Pelata's vocals and there's just a touch of Scorpions and Firehouse in the music. You can almost see how the stage show would look in your mind if you think about it. There'd be fireworks, smoke machines...everything. It's nice to finally hear a rock band who knows what to do with lead guitar and backing vocals. Nikki Dimage and Ed Darst do an excellent job.

Things don't slow down with "Morning Light." I hear a bit of Dokken in this song. It doesn't have quite the pep of "Live and Let Go" but it still gets up under you, and it's perfect fodder for all you neo-mullet-heads to put on a mix tape to take your baby cruising.

"Falling Down" keeps us going with driving guitar riffs, solid percussion, and social commentary. The song feels like a Steelheart album without the high pitched screaming.

Line of Fire lists as influences: Melodic Hard Rock of the '70s, '80s and '90s. Journey, Def Leppard, Boston, Firehouse, Giant, Dokken, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, TNT, Pretty Maids, etc. They've hit the mark on just about all of those.

If you're interested in learning more about the band, there's a good interview here.

I suggest you go to their myspace page at www.myspace.com/lof immediately and sample them. If you like what you hear, do like I'm doing, and order the CD from the links on their profile!