DeViCom CD-Review: Blind Melon

Nashville, TN's Hot Action Cop could be the first PG-13 rap-metal crew. Sure, mouthpiece Rob Werthner yelps lines like "I'm gonna strip you down like a car in the barrio" over ear-splitting guitars and muscular drum fills. But the band's bravado isn't tainted with the intangible gloom that stains most groups of their genre (including Limp Bizkit, an obvious influence, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers). Rather, Hot Action Cop's chest-thumping rap-rock has more in common with Uplift Mofo Party Plan-era Red Hot Chili Peppers. They're vulgar, loud, and they'll steal your girlfriend, but you're too good of friends with them to stay mad. Goofy songs like "Doom Boom" and the single, "Fever for the Flava," are harmless, high-fiving fun; "Busted" and "Face Around" are respectable remakes of the Chili Peppers' "Under the Bridge." Thankfully, Hot Action Cop keep the social commentary to a minimum, in favor of amplified rockers tailor-made for a spring-break beer bash. Otherwise this record would have become a total disaster. They catch your attention by their muscular riffs and the sing-along rap vocabs.