RTX Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
Jennifer Herrema has RTX's avant-pop-metal down to a science, with her fierce, fearsome growl and guitar pyrotechnics taking the lead and rock-solid rhythms and peripheral weirdness backing them up. Her band's albums even have similar structures, putting the poppiest tracks first, then a ballad, then closing with a headbanging free for all of the heaviest songs. JJ Got Live RaTX -- which, contrary to its name, is not a live album, although it rocks hard enough to pass for one -- follows the RTX formula so precisely that it ends up being some of the band's most consistent music, almost to the point of being monochromatic. Where Western Xterminator and, especially, Transmaniacon managed to be insanely rocking and varied, JJ Got Live RaTX sticks mostly to a palette of heavy, heavy rock with few tangents. That's not to say that this is a boring album: the badass anthem "You Should Shut Up" begins JJ Got Live RaTX with almost two minutes of synth and vocoder foreplay before it really kicks in with guitars that go beyond the hairiest of metal and Herrema's total shutdown of jive-talking fools, and the squealing, preening "How'd You Do It?" shows that Herrema hasn't lost the touch for pop-metal that she's shown since Royal Trux's heyday. Like the Trux, RTX's heaviness is never ironic; they really mean it, but what they mean is often far from straightforward. They make the Barbarians' "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl" even more gender-bending, with Herrema singing about tight pants and long hair in a snarl that sounds more androgynous than ever. The album's lone ballad, "Cheap Wine Time," is another standout, equal parts Stones-y strut and GN'R power ballad pomp as it moves from drunken bliss to kiss-off, like a night of partying gone bad. However, by the second half of JJ Got Live RaTX, it's hard to tell if the album is toploaded or if RTX's dedication to nonstop rock is greater than their listeners'. While nothing gets quite as heavy as Western Xterminator -- although "Virgina Creeper"'s grind comes close -- tracks like "Birthday Song," "Hash" and "Mr. Wall" feel like parts of a larger, mega-metal piece, a slab of solos, and growling so dense that, after a while, it becomes strangely atmospheric. Even if JJ Got Live RaTX doesn't show off everything RTX can do, it still has enough pure hedonistic fun to satisfy fans. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'Western Xterminator'
Release Date 3/12/2007
Tracks 10
Label Drag City
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
RTX's second album, Western Xterminator, has been called the heaviest album released by Drag City. While that gives short shrift to RTX's debut, Transmaniacon -- not to mention the output of the mighty Fucking Champs -- there's no denying that this album is dedicated to fist-pumping, headbanging, driving around with the top down rock. Even Western Xterminator's name recalls relentless, seriously fun rock albums like ZZ Top's trilogy of Eliminator, Afterburner, and Recycler, or Royal Trux's Accelerator. As with Transmaniacon, on this album Jennifer Herrema hones in on the tough, brittle, cleverly sleazy rock she and Neil Hagerty subverted on late-period Trux albums like Veterans of Disorder, this time varnishing it even more heavily in an '80s metallic sheen. After opening with the witchy, acoustic title track, Western Xterminator gets down to business, delivering attitude, riffs, and solos that don't let up until "Knightmare & Mane," a brilliantly slurred power ballad that doesn't let words get in the way of its emotions. "Balls to Pass" and "Black Bananas" reflect the album's poppy side, pairing RTX's alternately chugging and squealing guitars with plenty of hooks, and the sludgy "Money Will Roll Right In" shows off Herrema's infamous raspy perma-sneer at its finest. "Wo-Wo Din" is another, aptly named highlight, displaying the band's shredding and grinding guitar heroics; it's very likely the single heaviest song that Drag City has released. While Transmaniacon had more breadth and depth, Western Xterminator is a gleeful testament to the liberating powers of unrepentantly excessive, heavy rock. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
