Album Review: Catfish Haven – Devastator [Secretly Canadian]

Catfish Haven are one of those unusual occurrences in music where you get exactly what you expect. One look at Devastator’s cover depiction of silhouetted legs in a risqué position and you’ve got a pretty good idea what you are in for. Southern rock inspired bar rock, a good infusion of sexuality, and enough reverb that if you close your eyes you’d believe you’re right there in the bar with them. The raspy baritone of George Hunter growls it’s way through the album with equal amount of Huey Lewis and Van Zandt and guitars that cut through the mix like razor wire.

With “Are You Ready?” you can feel where Catfish Haven feels most at home, oscillating between arena sized sing alongs and wah-wah washed balladry. Any album of this style needs an opener like “Are You Ready?” A bar full of drunken voices responding to Hunter’s call of “Are you ready?” in a unified “Yeah!” accompanied by fervent hand claps.

While “Are You Ready?” has a charm and stomp that negates it’s lack of distinctive features, tracks such as “Tripping in Memphis” become a less than inspired exercise in where Monster Ballads Volume 24 might end up. A comparison that is in no way alleviated by “No Escape,” which is eerily reminiscent of Bad Company’s “Bad Company.” When Hunter sings, “I’ll spend my days / in a rock ‘n’ roll band / just like this,” then calls for “Guitar!” it lacks the self-acknowledging irony and charm of similar calls from bands like Beep Beep or Electric Six, and if this album needs anything it’s a little wink to the listener to let them know they don’t take themselves too seriously and just want to rock out for a while.

There are certainly some redeemable tracks on Devastator, but there is a lack of unity in the album. Many of the tracks bleed together and instead of coming across as a unified statement it sounds like an olio of random tracks they have written and thrown together haphazardly. It may be too easy, and too commonplace, to write off a band because of having a distinctively “bar rock” sound, but acts like The Hold Steady have shown that there is an art form to “bar rock” as well, and Catfish Haven haven’t found their voice yet. Everyone enjoys a little straight up rock ‘n’ roll every now and then, but Devastator lacks the vitality and rawness necessary to make this an engaging journey. They have their southern rock down in spades, and when they are utilizing their knack for this sound they are a solid act, but too often this lapses into an uninspired arena rock. The album is screaming “jump” but it never gets it’s feet off the ground.