Steve Cone
In My Bones

March 2008
Released: 2007, Independent
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Lord of the Wasteland

Prolific Arizona-based indie rock god, Steve Cone, is back with his latest release, IN MY BONES. Embodying the DIY-workhorse attitude necessary in today’s floundering music scene, Cone sticks to basics again on IN MY BONES. His classic sound of guitar, bass and drum-based hard rock/metal does little to reinvent the wheel but for an enjoyable, no-frills record from a veteran artist, this is another solid release from Steve Cone.



The melodic boogie of the title track gets things rolling and sets the pace for the record. “Your Eyes” and “Crazy Like Me” are bolstered by Cone’s meaty riffs and mid-tempo metallic heft. Cone sets things ablaze on “Get Down” with gritty leads and a scorching solo. With its slow, grinding Alice In Chains-like riff, “Dead Like Me” has a decidedly mid-nineties grunge feel but “Like The Dog I Am” goes the other way with an aggressive drum and bass intro. “Trapped” is a slow-building instrumental with a mandolin-like guitar tone and a slinky, almost progressive-leaning bass line—all handled by Cone himself. A marked improvement on IN MY BONES over 2006’s DISTORTION is Cone’s employment of an actual drummer. The drum machine on DISTORTION was obvious and distracting but Erik Fehrenbach gets behind the tubs here and the result is felt immediately.



Tearing through his music without having to deal with marketing ploys and answering to bean counters certainly has its pros but one cannot help but feel Steve Cone’s name would probably be a little more well-known this far into his career (IN MY BONES is Cone’s ninth release in as many years) if he had played the label game. But, one cannot fault Cone for keeping true to his vision of creating timeless heavy music for a hungry public and not bowing to the soul-sucking contracts and politics that comes with being under a record label’s thumb. The really cool thing is that IN MY BONES finds Cone never losing pace with his previous output and delivering yet another excellent release on his own terms giving independent artists hope and listeners something to bang their heads to.



KILLER KUTS: “In My Bones,” “Your Eyes,” “Dead Like Me,” “Get Down,” “Like The Dog I Am,” “Crazy Like Me”