Review MF RUCKUS ‘The Front Line of Good Times Vol. 1’

MF Ruckus is a band that isn’t very widely known in Europe. A bit of a deep-dive unveils that the Denver-based rockers premiered in 2013 with an album called ‘The Dirty Half-Dozen’ while the sophomore record, ‘Thieves of Thunder’, hit the shelves in 2016.

With two albums in the books, the band also embarked on tours and after returning from the second roundtrip through Europe, life looked pretty good. But life is also known for unexpected twist and the band had to go through a rough patch.

First it was guitarist Parker Meehan, who left the band and with him, three of his compositions for the new album. Then the band had to handle the loss of friends and family like the younger brother of singer Aaron Howell who passed away in 2019. And that the pandemic pulled on a stop sign for the music industry was a next slap into the face.

Giving up was never an option for the band and it was in 2022 when the group launched with ‘Ruckus Live’ a live album, followed by six singles taken from ‘The front Lines of Good Times Vol. 1’, the anticipated longplayer which will finally see the light of day.

MF Ruckus’ newest release is not easy to describe as the guys mix so many genres and styles. It starts with the title track being a galloping rock song that leads to ‘Acropolis Now’. A grooving bass line kicks of the second song of the album which is pure energizer with a chorus made for live shows.

Faster and metallic shimmering is ‘Be Cool’, a song that also got a weird and funny video clip. The following ‘Equilibrium’ has a metallic vibe too before a spoken-word intro starts off ‘Making a Killing’. The thundering song reminds partly of bands like Manowar, thinking about the guitar riff and especially the scream of Howell. With ‘Polly Anne Marie’ the band takes a totally different musical road with straight rock’n’roll being the center piece and some ‘shoopidoo’ female background vocals being the little extra.

The cowboy rides towards the sunset while the country song ‘Someday (I’ll be Better Than You)’ surprises the listener. And since ‘The Front Lines of Good Times Vol. 1’ is a very versatile album, the next song is a hidden track that’s mentioned on the track listing, guiding the band back to some metal vibes. Three more bonus tracks follow (digital format only) of which ‘Tres Reyes’ heralds the ending of the album while paying some tribute to the mighty ZZ Top.

MF Ruckus third longplayer is an interesting mix of genre. Metal, rock, punk and country, all genres are present on an album that is entertaining and is full of twists. Still, all songs fit well together and are driven by the dedication of band members.