Album number two from my favourite post-'90s period rock 'n' rollers. BC somehow get even heavier despite losing the very cool DJ Ashba. Somehow, this wonderfully packaged record is even heavier than the brilliant self-titled debut album, the riffs are blacker, the sleaze is grimier, and the anthems blot out the stars. 'Anyone' rips into gear, a true arm raiser with enough swagger to decimate a cat-walk. Joe is on great form venomously spiting out the lyrics, bringing the band into the modern era, clashing with some of the stadium acts yet getting no winning vote despite crushing the competition. BC are far more dense than Buckcherry, more heavyweight than Brides of Destruction, yet this is the kind of company they should be keeping, although all three bands have had a bit of a tough time of it, only Buckcherry hitting the mainstream.
How long can a band of this class be overlooked ? How can songs of such majesty and fist-pumping metal be ignored ? As I write, 'Deuce' has made no impact, and Guns 'n' Roses emerge from their hole as if it were the second coming....a false prophecy in my eyes. 'Deuce' makes 'The Chinese Democracy' look like exactly what it is, an overblown, over-produced example of American trash. 'Deuce' offers us seventeen cuts ( four live ), and everyone is a stonker. 'Anyone' has the arrogance, the chorus to reduce cities to rubble, Leste's sneer is a demonic Brian Johnson (AC/DC), the guitar attack of Anthony Focx, plus additional riffage from Grossi, Thomas and Simpson, is simply slick yet thunderous. The strains of 'Freedom' remind me a hell of a lot like a more vibrant The Cult as it shakes through its mammoth chorus, but it's 'Unforgiven' which takes the album up a notch.
'Deuce' is a remarkable album that takes the best of early '90s alterno-metal, bathes it with a rock 'n' roll yet weighty swagger, and shoves it in your face. tragic that so many have missed the boat, because 'Unforgiven' kicks, scratches like anything Guns 'n' Roses have produced in the past. 'Straight To Hell' is more bona fide rock 'n' roll, but again, the band show their subtle side with the enigmatic 'I Still Miss You' and 'Starr Cross' whilst the reflective 'I Won't Be The One' sends a shiver to the soul.
I can only promote these bands as much as I can on this blog, in the hope that a few readers might want to inject a bit of quality music into their life. Beautiful Creatures are one of those quality bands you need to hear, or you may forever exist in the commercial void of stadium rock, which for decades has plodded like some kind of cheating, fake and bloated elephant. Beautiful Creatures deserve your ears.
9/10
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