One Hand Free

Self-titled CD

Halt Music

Genres: rock, hard rock, retro

band website

Jan 24 - 30 2005

One thing is very obvious on One Hand Free' self-titled debut album - it isn't, in the least, an original record.  Everything that OHF does on this release has been done before, but it's still good stuff for fans of jam band styled hard rock (think Deep Purple mixed with The Grateful Dead.)  The band has a reasonably typical set-up, though the inclusion of keyboards definitely works in their favour.  "Now You Know" and "Devil's Tongue" are particularly strong compositions, heavy in intense atmospheres and melodic songwriting.  There is little variation between the band's songs - which is a bit of a problem - but they do have some less energetic tracks on this album, like the folky "Days" and the laidback, groovy "If I See You."  Since I'm not really a fan of this type of music, I doubt I'll listen to this album much in the future - however, for those interested in the genre, I can't see why this wouldn't do the trick.  While a bit more variety and originality would have been nice, One Hand Free's debut nevertheless makes for a solid retro rock experience.

76%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 10 tracks, distributed by GarageBand.com, released 2004]