Let’s establish this reviewer’s hard-rock preferences: Sabbath up to Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, Deep Purple up to Burn, Van Halen avec David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar avec Montrose, and Aerosmith up to Rocks. AC/DC? One of the most overrated bands of all time. Lucky for The Answer that hundreds of thousands disagree with me on that last one, as the Aussies took these Irish lads out on their Black Ice world tour.

Still, the question about The Answer remains: How does the rock stack up?

Highlight track: “Too Far Gone”
Subpar track: “Why’d You Change Your Mind”
Overall rating: 7/10

Everyday Demons is the four-piece’s second album, but it’s their North American debut. And it sounds like, well…

Lead singer Cormac Neeson is a capable cross between Dan McCafferty (Nazareth), Paul Rodgers (Free, Queen) and, dare I suggest, Colin McDonald from The Trews. Guitarist Paul Mahon has his Zep riffs down cold but also seems to have a little Rory Gallagher blood running through his veins.

Right from the first chords of album opener “Demon Eyes,” the tone is set: ballsy blues rock without a sense of irony or novelty. Not. A. Jot. Unlike The Darkness (who actually helped kick-start the band’s career by offering them a plumb opening assignment in London), The Answer is almost entirely about performance and hardly about image. Lyrically, the boys write pretty standard meat-and-potatoes relationship rock (that said, “Cry Out” threatens to morph into “Witchy Woman” at any given moment).

You asking for your rock and roll straight up? Well, you’ve been given The Answer.