RTX, Western Xterminator cd review

The following review was originally written for The Artbeat zine, issue #1, published May 3, 2007.












RTX, Western Xterminator
Drag City, 2007

SHIT YES! With or without the junkie-guitar gunslinging of grunge-hero Neil Micheal Haggerty, Royal Trux continues to ride towards Rock and Roll Heaven on a flaming deathcycle of pure a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I mean, just look at the cover of this thing! Lead-vocal vamp Jennifer Herrera is decked out like a badass cartoon super-pirate, and she's playing a fucking flute! And yeah, for the record, she actually does play a rippin' flute on the opening track, it's all part of the fun. Make no mistake, Western Xterminator is an acid-washed rock record in tradition of Wendy O Williams, AC/DC's Highway to Hell, and G'N'R's mammoth Appetite for Destruction, sans the shitty ballads and Axl Rose aquanet jumpsuit theatrics. Instead, RTX cut the fat, and deliver only what's expected of them: sleazy, drop-out rock and roll. Seriously, if not for the total sense of embarrassment I'd suffer at the hands of "respectable" friends and family, Western Xterminator makes me want to carve myself a dyed-blonde skullet, tear the sleeves off all my t-'s, and crack open a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon as I chug to nothing but Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" (every time Lemmy roars "the Ace of Spades", drink!).