Trucker Diablo is a band out of Northern Ireland (or if you are Catholic just think the United Kingdom) that combine heavy, chugging metal riffs with pop vocal hooks that I haven't heard in a while.  Lead singer Tom Harte has a Brent from Shinedown tone to his voice, but the band is harder than Shinedown in a lot of ways. The first way, they aren't pussies who dye their hair red - they are Irish they have natural red hair.

Songs like Juggernaut exemplify everything that is cool about this band. The song is just like Marvel's X-Men Juggernaut, big, heavy, thick, powerful, and seemingly invincible to the mind tricks of bald, impotent rock journalists confined to a wheelchair.

A lot of people will choose Juggernaut to focus on and they would be right in doing so, but my favorite song on the album is Big Truck. Big Truck showcases the band simple, choral hook combined with sing-a-long lyrics that I caught onto after the first path.  The guitar work runs the gamut from southern rock to head nodding blues metal in a mere chord progression. Tom and Simon are to blame for those guitars and they are also to blame for the God-damn catchy chorus. I woke up the next day singing this song and wished I knew how to drive an 18 wheeler so I could be more manly like these Irish men.

I prefer to see The Devil Rhythm as a concept album (even though it really isn't). The concept is about rolling down the United States highway system hauling bananas. The album starts out with the mantra Drink Beer, Destroy - a song about drinking beer and destroying toll booths, carpool lanes, and the hymens of unsuspected coeds looking to get some cheap sunglasses at the rest stops. Some people call me a Juggernaut, but they are just jealous of my Big Truck. If the cops want to do something about the hero will Stand Up and Fight...and on and on.   

Trucker Diablo's The Devil Rhythm is steeped in classic rock, but add pop hooks that will have you singing their lyrics well past the time your iPod finishes hurling their music into your ears. There isn't a bad song off this album and I found myself saying "What the fuck happened?" when the album ended. I thought my iPod died because I lost track of time and where I was on the album. 

In a music industry saying "Rock is dead," those suits haven't heard Trucker Diablo. Rock is still very much alive and well in the UK. LONG LIVE ROCK! 

If you live in the UK you can buy the album here. If you live in the US, you can buy the album here. And if you are part of the Indian and Pakistani crowd we see on a daily basis visiting the site, you can buy the album here.

Check out Trucker Diablo's main site to see when they are hitting your town.