Whew! These boys and their harmonies!

Overall, I think this album will put to rest many of the complaints critics have had over the past few years about two of MusikMafia’s founding fathers killing country music. I think they’ve made some atonement through story telling country music style on their latest release, while keeping true to their own unique approach to expressing same through ever so slightly co-mingling genres. That is NOT to say that there aren’t a couple of cuts on which their rebellion isn’t present, but this critic rather enjoyed their non-conformity, believing that it keeps the scales balanced and listeners intrigued.

While I did find this album contained a little less hard driving rhythm than I was expecting, I truly enjoyed diving into the lyrics of a lot of these ballads and contemplating the reality of life applications. The title definitely foreshadows much of the content within (love, heaven, angels, addictions, hell and temptations by that scary dude with the tail), but there’s still enough mystery that you’ll wanna listen all the way through.

Pepper’s Brass Tacks Breakdown:

Highlights on this album for me include:

~Adding John Legend’s smooth blend in the intro to “Eternity”, which I thought was a brilliant move. Who’da thunka it? They did and it worked!

~Unexpected musical transitions/instrumentals throughout “Radio”.

~Special flare, courtesy of Wyclef Jean, in “Please Man”. Okay, so there are a couple of spots where you may wonder if you’re listening to country or are down in the tropics. Hang in there a few more bars and you’ll breathe again with belt buckle and boots in tact. I actually love the Jamaican play in this one, as it’s very unexpected.

~While Angus Young would roll over in his grave (if he were dead) at his heavy metal rock mantra “You Shook Me All Night Long” going country, I actually got a kick out of it and cranked it up! It was also a great primer for “Loud”, which has a rompin’, stompin’ drive that we all love to hit the dance floor for.

For their never-ending envelope-pushing genre-crossing, which this album was full of, I give this one four ‘Boot-Kicks’ out of five!