In Tongues

In the manner of their four-legged namesake, Oakland, California’s Drunk Horse may stumble on In Tongues, but they don’t fall while paying tribute to 1970s icons like Foghat, ZZ Top, and Thin Lizzy with varying degrees of success. The blistering, guitar-dueling opener, “Strange Transgressors” is among the finest of these ten tunes with the infectious, riff-tastic guitar work also scoring high marks as axe wielding frontman Elijah Eckert and lead guitarist Joel Robinow play to each other’s strengths. The meandering instrumental “Grinding Teeth” and the musical identity crisis “Howard Phillips” — which can’t make up its mind if it’s a metal tune or a blurring prog rocker — don’t fare as well. Still, fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd will be hard-pressed to ignore the power of “Nice Hooves.” – John D. Luerssen