Steve Cone
Crazy Ei8hts

March 2009
Released: 2008, Independent
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Lord of the Wasteland

While Steve Cone’s name should be familiar to any regular readers of the Metal-Rules.com CD reviews section, it might be his prominent work in last fall’s brilliant documentary, GET THRASHED: THE STORY OF THRASH METAL, that will tip off others. Cone’s music is not thrash by any stretch of the imagination but his meat-and-potatoes take on traditional metal lends itself to many avenues. On his latest release, CRAZY EI8HTS, Cone has re-recorded six of the songs featured in GET THRASHED, as well as revisited four tracks from a 2003 album that never got released. As he did on the two previous releases we have reviewed—2006’s DISTORTION and 2007’s IN MY BONES—Cone gives listeners plenty of straight-forward, headbang-worthy tunes that we have come to expect.



“This Is Not The End” really kicks things into high gear with a driving tempo and big, beefy guitars. Cone seems to have an uncanny ability to write songs that cause one’s foot to involuntarily press harder on the accelerator while driving—“High Roller” and “This One’s For Me” fitting the bill perfectly. It should be noted that Erik Fehrenbach really leaves his mark on “Put Up Or Shut Up” with some wicked double bass drumming and loose fills.



Another year, another release from Arizona’s Steve Cone. The indie-to-the-bone guitarist continues his tradition of laying down unrelenting metal tunes on CRAZY EI8HTS and one has to wonder just how much music Cone has coursing through him. Granted, without the marketing machine of a label dictating when, where and how a record will see the light of the day, an artist’s creativity is never stifled but as far as consistently strong releases, I cannot think of another musician that is able to offer what Cone does. For those interested in hearing classic metal without any trend-hopping, visit Cone’s MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/stevecone) for a taste of what he has to offer.



KILLER KUTS: “”This Is Not The End,” “High Roller,” “This One’s For Me,” “Put Up Or Shut Up”