Album Review: Bobaflex 'Eloquent Demons'

Bobaflex has just issued their latest album, Eloquent Demons, the follow up to 2015's Anything That Moves and their first for new label Thermal Entertainment. It's the group's eighth album overall since their Mason, West Virginia origins which date back to 1998; a long and often painful band history that includes various lineup and label changes and even label bankruptcies among other various temporary setbacks.

The band is one of the hardest working live acts of the past 20 plus years, and despite a few nice (yet still only occasional) breaks via radio and decent tour packages (Gigantour), they should honestly have a chip on their shoulder. Bobaflex, namely brothers Shawn and Marty McCoy who have steered the ship through the storm of bile and bullshit this whole time, should be household names. It makes you wonder... What exactly motivates Bobaflex?

The new album Eloquent Demons answers this question in spades, it's their absolute love of the music and melodies. Despite the fans, despite the brotherhood, despite the accolades or lack thereof, it's the music that moves these guys. I understand if that sounds too simple or stupid to be true, but the proof is in the tracks they've laid down here, from the opening shake of "I Am A Nightmare" to their faithful and painstakingly loving cover of Pink Floyd's "Hey You" and on every song in-between, this album is a goddamn love letter detailing a lifelong affair with musical melody and harmony.

The Bobaflex guys have made great albums before (several of them actually) but this may just be their best yet and is easily one of the best hard rock albums of 2017. The aforementioned "I Am A Nightmare" kicks things off with a great combination of everything Boba has always done well: mixing harmony vocals, heavy riffs and great lyrics with serious radio ready hooks. I don't ever remember the lead guitar playing being this focused or well-executed, but this is just one of many tracks that features some truly blistering leads.

The band has always been more about writing to the strength of the song rather than following a particular trend or genre, but this is a pretty heavy album for the most part, both lyrically and musically, and that continues on "Long Time Coming," a track that screams "What if God don't believe in us?" and features some more of the same awesome energy and harmony I keep gushing about. "Say What You Will" is one of my absolute favorites on the entire affair, featuring some of the bands' best (and vaguely political) lyrics and fantastic harmony guitars surrounded by some of the best drumming we've heard in years. Take a bow, Tommy Johnson.

If you've ever hung out with the band or witnessed their shows in any capacity, you can appreciate the sentiment expressed in their next track "Lights Out" which is not only catchy but certainly autobiographical when they say "Shut your mouth and fill my cup, I'll tell you when I've had enough." It's classic Bobaflex and the perfect mix of stupid swagger and the kind of fearless fun that will no doubt translate magnificently to the stage.

Just about halfway through the record, on the track "Real Sadness," I was about to say the band had finally delved a little too deep into the darkness and come up with some filler. It's certainly the heaviest track on the album in all respects, but that's not always indicative of quality. I was growing tired of the riffing before the band proved me completely wrong, switching gears midway through, going into a glorious, melodic interlude and bringing some more great, thought provoking lyrics to the table. Bobaflex isn't about mining heaviness for the sake of heaviness. It's STILL all about the song. The highs and lows of this track that bring it back together keep the listener truly engaged and take us to the holy grail of Eloquent Demons, the seventh song, "Off With Your Head."

"Off With Your Head" is not just the best song on this album, in my humble opinion, but easily one of my favorite songs in their entire catalog, a catalog that has way more than enough greatness to warrant a hefty "Best Of" collection. It's a mid-tempo track/power ballad that has radio greatness written all over it despite some more nasty sentiment and an F-bomb in the bridge buildup. I'd love to see what classic rock stuff the guys have had on their tourbus playlist leading up to the recording of this album because "Off With Your Head," like this whole album, oozes a big sloppy kiss to so many of their influences.

"Moon and The Shadows" follows with more of the same, featuring some more kickass double-bass drum pounding and a bass-heavy approach (a significant development present on this whole record) that melds well with the upper registry harmonies from the guitars of Dave Tipple and the brothers McCoy.

The decision to cover the sacred cow that is "Hey You" will no doubt raise some eyebrows and cause some head-scratching. Was it necessary? Did the band improve on the original? Blah, blah, blah. I'm not a big fan of the original; not much of a Floyd fan outside the Syd Barrett stuff and not much of a fan of covers, so this is probably the only track on this album I wouldn't go out of my way to repeat endlessly, but the sentiment and love the guys have for the song is clear and the production is great, which is certainly saying something.

The last track on Eloquent Demons continues the all-killer no filler approach that marks the entire album. "Reckless" combines the darkness the band embraced on the album with a final message of hope and fuck-you defiance; one final middle finger to the assholes that probably told Bobaflex to pack it in and quit years ago.

Thank god they haven't given up; this album smokes and is one of the few records my broke ass absolutely needs to go out and actually pick up on CD or vinyl so I can crank it somewhere besides my phone or computer. There simply aren't enough stars to justify in a review of Eloquent Demons. Order a physical copy of this sucker here or go the easy mp3 road via Amazon here.