15 [PA] (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Josh Todd (vocals); Stevie D. (guitar); Mark Watrous (keyboards).

Audio Mixer: Mike Plotnikoff.

Author: Eddie Trunk.

More than five years after its poorly received second album, TIME BOMB, the Los Angeles hard-rock group Buckcherry returned in 2006 with this 11-track outing. Despite only frontman Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson remaining from the band's original lineup, Buckcherry sounds much as it did on its 1999 debut, channeling the Cult and AC/DC through a seedy L.A. filter, albeit with a hint of punk-pop, as revealed on 15's propulsive opener, "So Far."

A few months before the release of Buckcherry's long-awaited sophomore album, the national press proclaimed that classic rock was back, as if rock -- classic or otherwise -- had ever gone away. Buckcherry most definitely had, though, for four long years, and the group that returned sported three different members than the one that had left. But their timing was impeccable, as evidenced by the success of "Crazy Bitch," a taster for this set. The thundering "Bitch" has a decidedly Aerosmith feel, not surprising when you discover that band's producer Marti Frederiksen co-wrote one of the numbers within 15, the lavish power ballad "Sorry." "Carousel" also echoes with sounds of the past, and is hands down the best song Rod Stewart and the Faces never wrote but should have, with guitar solos that reverberate of Ron Wood and a gorgeous melody that grasps your heart and never lets go. And then there's the tasty country-fried blues of..."Brooklyn"? Sure, why not? There are rednecks in the Big Apple, too, but who knew you could hear such mean slide guitar and great bluesy riffs in that borough? Moving forward in time, "Everything" boasts some ringing U2-ish guitar, but the song itself has a much more '90s alterna-rock feel, one of several tracks that fall into the now well-missed genre. And at the far end of the spectrum comes the likes of "So Far" and "Broken Glass," the former a storming hard rocker, the latter pushing toward hardcore, both perfectly bookending this stunning set. So no matter how you like your rock served up, Buckcherry dish it with delight, and you'll be wolfing it down and demanding more. ~ Jo-Ann Greene minimize