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“COME INSIDE” Crop Circle (Crop Circle) *****
Finally- a West Coast rock band that DOESN’T sound like Nickelback! This, Crop Circle’s debut, is one hella cool rock album.

First thing you notice when slapping this bad boy on is that singer Sean McCormick sounds like Chris Cornell, one of rock’s best vocalists, and that’s just for starters. As Crop Circle grinds and jams their way through eleven tracks they manage to sound like the past and the present, at times invoking early 70’s psychedelia powered by the molten, sweaty guitar work of Brian Garbet- Pearl Jam meets Steppenwolf, if you will.

If you can read the fine print on the back cover (I can, but only if I squint) it notes “Recorded in 13 days, no vocal auto-tuning, samples or drum-quantizing appear on this recording.” In an era where we are expected to be routinely amazed by studio trickery such as Pro Tools, Crop Circle has blessed us with unabashed, knuckle-dragging, give-me-another-beer rock & roll.

To some, “Come Inside” will sound like a dated mélange of psychedelic rock and early 90’s grunge- to others, it will sound like great rock & roll. I think I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel. “Come Inside” belongs on my “Ten Best Of 2008” list.

KEY CUTS: “Capitalist Bitch”, “Hideaway”, “The Other Side”