Geekscape Music Reviews: Boy Hits Car, Steal Fire

Stealing Fire

Released: March 15, 2011

This week’s review is for the 4th studio album by Los Angeles based punk (or “lovecore” as they call themselves) band, Boy Hits Car.
 
Out of all the reviews I’ve ever done, this band is probably the least known. To the fans they DO have, they are most notably known for their songs “As I Watch The Sun F*** The Ocean” and “Lovefurypassionenergy”, the latter being used as the entrance theme for former WWE Diva Amy Dumas (aka Lita).
 
Often criticized for their unique vocals and mixture of styles, modern punk fused with Middle-Eastern, Boy Hits Car has used that adversity to consistently put out listenable albums. Are they fantastic albums? Not really. Are they different? Very much so. Does this one break the mold for this unique group of musicians? We shall see.
 
The new album, entitled “Stealing Fire”, was released through Nuclear Blast Records, a label that more often than not deals with death metal bands. As far as I can recall, this is the only non-metal album they’ve released. I could be wrong though, so don’t take that as fact.
“Stealing Fire” continues the band’s ongoing musical theme of “blending soft and passionate lyrics with hard-hitting music, often having lyrics about the elements of nature, and how one can possibly attain ascendancy by becoming one with such elements”.
 
This was their first album in 6 years, with vocalist/guitarist Craig Rondell being the only remaining member. The first new track from the album was titled “Dreams” and was released a couple years prior to the albums release, much like the same thing Industrial-Metal band Dope did with their song “Nothing For Me Here”. The single release of “Dreams” and the album release contain almost no noticeable difference (other than name change), creating an interesting “what-if” situation for listeners. “What if that song received such positive feedback that they decided to stick with that style and perfect it til they were 100% comfortable releasing it?” In this listener’s opinion, it’d make a lot of sense, and be one hell of a good move on their part. The question though, is did it pay off for the rest of the album?
 
There are very few stand out tracks on the album, making the time effort seem almost pointless. Perhaps the band should have focused more on specific songs rather than all of them, seeing as it didn’t work out as well as it could have. As much hatred as this is going to bring me, Axl Rose’s “Chinese Democracy” comes together as another example of this situation.
 
Should they have striven for excellence? Yes, always. Is there a point where it seems as though they’re trying too hard? Also yes.
Exceptions on this album ARE there though, it does in fact have some decent songs, and one GREAT song. And the mixture of sounds is something that never hurts either, seeing as though most bands are seemingly afraid to try something different.
 
However, none of this should deter listeners from giving this band a chance. If you want something different, something unique, give them a try. Maybe not this album (I’d say it’s their 3rd best overall), but definetly their 2001 self-titled release.
 
What’s my rating for the album? I’d say 2.5/5
(I decided to stop rating things out of 10, seeing as though it was getting to be a bit too difficult).
 
Key Tracks:
“A Madness Called Love”
“Stealing Fire From The Sun”
“Dreams (of Foreign Metabolic Circumstance)”
 
Wondering how you’d steal fire from the sun,
-JC