ThrowDown Band have recently been selling copies of their three year old CD Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, and it’s loaded with the fire and brimstone personality that has made the band so popular and so successful. Aside from tackling two of their favorite covers songs from their live shows, ThrowDown also reveal a flair for original songwriting as well, having composed seven of the numbers on this debut album. Some of the picky poo blue purists may say this is more hard rock than blues, but that would be an over simplification. ThrowDown play hard blues, making blue come out of their amps the way a lot of blues musicians do nowadays, as so many have grown up post-Led Zeppelin.
Opening the album with their original “Walkin’ Shoes,” ThrowDown go into some swinging, funky guitar riffs, nimble grooving from the rhythm section, and vocalist Eric Savoie’s gruffly gripe about a woman who treated him wrong. Stan Blues Junior makes it sound easy to press out his underlying blues guitar phrases that pour fourth in between his gritty rhythmic riffs. Every instrument makes an impression as does the voice, and this is only the first song.
Second track, “The Day Love Dies,” moves forward with sudden switches from mellow groove to guitar riff eruptions. Savoie belts with majestic blues authority in his muscular voicing while Stan Blues Junior muscles the song forward with edgy phrases, ones he casually aims in the right directions each time he fires them off. Boy, is this one exciting song. Guitar phrases take on a life of their own, spiraling ever upward with fiery passion while the rhythm section offers numerous hefty nudges throughout.
“Fallen” has a stomping groove that could knock down anything foolish enough to get in its way. The rhythm section carries this one forward with authoritative finesse. You can almost feel the heartbeat quality of the groove they build as Stan Blues Junior unleashes, over the beats, more blues guitar fire power from his six string. The music makes the listener feel the drama in the lyrics of this song. The kitschy cool, not quite corrupt woman the song is about comes across loud and clear in the music’s attitude and in the tight lyrical frame.
More aggressive blues abound on “Baby, Where You Been All Night.” Savoie makes this confrontational story song sound feisty as hell with his guttural vocal timbre and heart-felt sustains. His subject is crying out in pain and frustration, and this singer can make you feel it. Stan Blues Junior ignites the song with his mad, high-pitched guitar wailing as well as joining the rhythm section for a tight, hefty groove before they close out.
“Dogs Of War” run on bursts of energetic, galloping guitar and bass phrasing. The run of guitar and low end notes adopt an almost metal attitude. Savoie, too, gets darker here. His vocal sustains are angrier and heavier in tone and he rides commandingly the tribal angst of music served up by his instrumentalist high priests of sound beneath his vocal line. While this song might help make the case that ThrowDown is more of a hard rock band than a blues band, the people on that side of the argument should at least appreciate the band’s ability create a vibe with colors and tones and the lead guitar phrase that Stan Blues Junior uses to arc the song.
ThrowDown take it slow on “Sexy,” a song that expresses how a woman can keep a man’s mind focus too much on an unreliable but fetching member of the opposite sex. Their easy going pace allows Savoie to sing and coo with plenty of emotion and for Stan Blues Junior to press all sorts of beautiful blues feelings out of his six string.
The ThrowDown Band’s live staple, original instrumental “Stan’s Boogie,” comes off well in this recording. Guitar riffs dance over the ample groove with a playful blues attitude. You can almost picture Junior’s fingers pressing his joyful, feisty notes out of his frets. The bopping beats and thumpy grooves beneath him hold things up well.
“Help Me,” a favorite cover from ThrowDown’s live shows, bops along mightily with intense drumming from Skip Fischer and bass work from John Peresada(recently replaced by the youthful Peter Albert DeReyna). Stan Blues Junior unleashes more of his fiery, passionate guitar phrasing. A torrent of screamy notes makes the song burn like a bonfire, increasing the excitement level as the song levels everything in its path.
ThrowDown close out their album with the monster Jimi Hendrix classic “Voodoo Chile,” which they fearlessly tackle with their scorching hot guitar phrases, bracing rhythmic support, and emotive vocal sing-shout eruptions. ThrowDown likely does the most accurate and thorough recreation of 
this song than any other local band in New England. It’s sheer joy to hear all of their guitar fury coming on strong, the emotive vocals, and the pulse pounding work from their rhythm section.
ThrowDown blues band knew what they were doing when they recorded this material. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie is a fine document of what this band can create as songwriters and how exciting their live shows can be.
