The Pretty Reckless - Going To Hell

I love when bands get better with follow up albums. I was worried that The Pretty Reckless would end up going Poppish, or rely way too much on ballads and lighter acoustic songs. Just so they can gather the fan base. Instead we get Going To Hell , which is some major bad ass, balls to the wall Rock N' Roll. Let me say this with the praise that it deserves. This is an album that could easily be released by the original Alice Cooper Group now a days. I've heard what they can do, and if they got back together this is what the album would sound like. Yes, this album is that good.

Let me start by saying that Taylor Momsen is a fantastic Rock vocalist. She clearly gets what Rock is about and she doesn't let you think any differently, and on this album she's only matured and gotten better. However, it really helps that guitarist Ben Phillips really brings it, with Mark Damon and Jamie Perkins filling out the rhythm section. I should also mention that it is really hard to pick which song lyrics to post because a lot of them are really good. I can stress hard enough how well Talyor understands what real Rock is. This is the real deal. I mean this is Rolling Stones on heroin, AC/DC with Bon Scott, or Gun's N' Roses when the original band was still together.

The album kicks of with Follow Me Down which is a good solid start to the album. I don't think it's anything overly crazy, but it is a really solid rock track, with some good hooks, and catchy lyrics. I also love the acoustic chugging guitar riffs. It really adds some balls, that aren't even needed.

Now let me be clear, the first song on the album is just a warm up track, because the album's title track is fucking big, bad, and heavy. Going To Hell, would be this band's Cold Gin and God Of Thunder rolled up together, with a really bitchin' breakdown that just makes the song so sexy, in that dark and bad Rock N' Roll way.

There is nothing original about Heaven Knows. You have heard this rhythm and singing pattern a million times. Even Adele has used a variation on her album 21. However, it's one of those songs that's about the lyrics and the presentation. Also the children doing the back up on the chorus really helps sell it. "Jimmy's in the back with a pocket of high / If you listen close / You can hear him cry / Oh, Lord, heaven knows / We belong way down below / Sing it / Oh, Lord, heaven knows / We belong way down below / Way down below, way down below / Judy's in the front seat picking up trash / Living on the dole / Gotta make that cash / Won't be pretty / Won't be sweet / She's just sittin' here on her feet / Sing it / Oh, Lord, heaven knows / We belong way down below / Go / Oh, Lord, heaven knows / We belong way down below / Sing / Oh, Lord, tell us so / We belong way down below / Oh, Lord, tell us so / We belong way down below / Way down below, way down below / Way down below, way down below / I've had better days, man / I've seen better days / I've had better ways, man / I know better ways / One, two, three and four / The devil's knocking at your door / Caught in the eye of a dead man's lie / Start your life with your head held high / Now you're on your knees / With your head hung low / Big man tells you where to go / Tell 'em it's good / Tell 'em okay / Don't do a goddamn thing they say / Oh, Lord, heaven knows / We belong way down below / Oh, Lord, tell us so / We belong way down below / Way down below, way down below / Way down below, way down below / I've seen better ways, man / I know better ways / I've seen better days, man / I've had better days / Gina's in the back with a pocket of high / If you listen close / You can hear the crying / Oh, Lord, heaven knows / We belong way down below / Oh, Lord, tell us so / We belong way down below / Oh, Lord, heaven knows / We belong way down below / Oh, Lord, tell us so / We belong way down below / Way down below, way down below / Way down below, way down below".

House On A Hill is the first song on the album that goes soft, but it doesn't go soft in a silly love song way. It goes soft with a powerful feeling and message. "Somewhere in the end of all this hate / There's a light ahead / That shines into this grave that's in the end of all this pain / In the night ahead there's a light upon this / House on a hill / The living, living still / Their intention is to kill and they will, they will / But the children are doing fine / I think about them all the time / Until they drink their wine and they will, they will, they will / Somewhere in the end we're all insane / To think that light ahead can save us from this / Grave that's in the end of all this pain / In the night ahead there's a light upon this / House on a hill / The living, living still / Their intention is to kill and they will, they will / But the children are doing fine / I think about them all the time / Until they drink their wine and they will, they will, they will / I am not afraid / I won't burn out in this place / My intention is to fade and I will, I will / In this house on a hill / The dead are living still / Their intention is to kill and they will, they will / Keep your children safe inside / Out of pocket, out of mind / Until they drink their wine and they will, they will, they will". This is the type of mellow song on a Rock album you can really get behind. This is so decent and well produced that it could easily cross genres on the radio.

Sweet Things is Metal. It's not just simple Metal either, this has some Heavy Prog like arrangements going on. Also this song relies very heavy on the back and forth between Momsen and Phillips which works so well. This was the track where I pretty much went, "Hello, next Alice Cooper Group." I was just floored. It is so much fun. There is also this one part where Momsen sounds like Courtney Love during one of her classic screaming, screaching part from Miss World or Violet.

Dear Sister is sweet, nice, pretty, and a great little tribute. It doesn't run long, and in the days of vinyl it would have finished off the first half of the album in a nice way.

The way that this band uses and utilizes the acoustic chug on the album is brilliant. However, Absolution uses it the best as it evolves into an electric chug with a more and more instrumentation forming around it. Then there's the textures, and the whole bad ass cowboy feel to this one. This is motorcycles riding through the desert for the modern age.

I really get a kick out of Blame Me. This is one of the lighter songs on the album, but really it's not that light. It's just not thunderingly heavy. But it's the lyrics and the arrangments that really pull it all together. "Sittin’ in the back / Baby park it or drive / Breathing out the cracks just to stay alive / Earthquake body shake joke is all on me / I remember when I remember the time / Didn't have to take just to feel alive / Eyes black head back joke is all on me / Blame all your life on me / Blame all your life on me / I gave it all for free / Blame all your life on me / All on me, oh / All on me, oh / Everything I wanted was in my hand / I gave it all up for a better man / Who beat me down but on the ground I stand / Sitting in the back baby hardly alive / If I'm about to crack kick the pedal and drive / All this time the joke was all on me / Blame all your life on me / Just blame all your life on me / I gave it all for free / Blame all your life on me / Hit me with the wind again hit me with the wind I know / I have lost a friend again I have lost a friend I know how the / Story goes / Blame all your life on me / Blame all your life on me / Cus I gave it all for free / So blame all your life on me / All on me, oh / All on me, oh / It’s all on me, oh / All on me, oh".

Burn is the worst song on the album. I hate saying that because the only way I knew it was my daughter playing it. But seriously, my daughter's cover is so much better than this one. I was given to understand it was one of the early singles, and if I had heard it prior to the rest of the album, I would have been really put off. The vocals honestly sound like shit. I have no clue what she was thinking. The song ends abruptly in a bad way, and it really sounds like they didn't have time to get it out of the demo phase. I also mean a pocket recorder demo.

Andria and I have slightly different views when it comes to the rest of the official album. She possits that the rest of the album is pretty much stock, and I can totally see why, and for the most part I agree. Why'd You Bring A Shot Gun To The Party which is the next track help prove her point, however the full point is that the stock is really good. It's one of those stock songs that will always be great when The Pretty Reckless bust it out live, and will get the crowd pumped for sure, but it's nothing she hasn't done before.

Fucked Up World is why I don't think the the rest of the album is stock. This one has some sweet arrangments that rely on simplicity that has been used since music was first being played, I'm guessing, but then moves into some pretty kicking music, and I like the percussion breakdown. But that's my own bias.

Waiting For A Friend is girly acoustic Pop, but it's not Avril Pop, this is a little like White Stripes on the first two albums, except with a clearer sound quality. I also must say that this was an odd way to end the official album. It works, but it only works because it is one of those mellow saying goodnight kind of tracks.

Normally when it comes to bonus tracks, I find they don't do anything for the album. In this case that is simply not true. In the case of this album it's acoustic versions of two of the heavier tracks on the album.

First off is Going To Hell ('Live Acoustic), which is one of those songs that I would call Country Metal in this rendition. I mean it's pretty badass and heavy.

The album closes with Sweet Things (Acoustic). I really do enjoy the original, but this version is better and is even more evil sounding. I won't say for sure, but this may be my favourite song on this album. The chemistry between the two vocalists is just as good and melodic as one could ask for, in a song that sounds like it's an amazingly produced acoustic demo. Oh, and it's on this one that I say you need to read this tale. "Evil knocking at my door / Evil making me its whore / I don't mind if you take what's yours / But give me mine / Evil want you to know / I'm much too young to be old / I don't mind if you take what's yours / But give me mine / Hey there, little girl / Come inside I've got some sweet things / Put your hair in curls / Paint you up just like a drag queen / I don't mind decay / You are the night that saves my day / Hey there, little girl / Come inside don't be afraid / I'll keep you safe / I'm evil knocking at your door / I'm evil making you my whore / I don't mind if you take what's yours / But give me mine / I am like decay / I rot the ground to guide your way oh / Hey there, little girl / Come inside I've got some sweet things / Put your hair in curls / Paint you up just like a drag queen / How you like me now? / Did I succeeded in making you proud? / Hey there, little girl / Come inside don't be afraid I'll keep you safe".

If people wonder where the bands are that will help save Rock N' Roll I will point them in this direction. This is seriously one of the best rocks albums I've heard in a long time. Sure a lot of it sounds like stuff that's been done, but that's what happens when it was all originally done by 1975. That doesn't mean that this isn't a great album, with solid songs, and even the stock is totally enjoyable.

As a side note if it wasn't for Burn I would have given this album a higher production rating.

8/10 - content

7/10 - production

9/10 - personal bias