Galactic Cowboys: The Band That Should Have Conquered the World and the Space

 

I wasn’t expecting anything from Galactic Cowboys anymore. I have to say it straight. Almost ten years after their previous album, What Planet Are You From? appears, and more than a reunion record, it sounds like an exact return to the early 90s.

Galactic Cowboys’ proposal was always bold. They mixed Metallica with the Beatles. Something like Cheap Trick playing with Anthrax. Their debut album arrived in 1991, and a week later the whole world was talking about Nirvana’s Nevermind, another record that sounded like a very heavy Beatles.

But What Planet Are You From? is simply spectacular. It’s some of the heaviest material this Texas band has ever made. Don’t miss “Trainwreck”, highly corrosive guitar riffs and pulverizing drums. Dane Sonnier’s guitars are impossible to ignore. Johnny Simmons’ drums, he would pass away after recording the album, make the earth tremble. They are without a doubt one of the album’s standout points.

Add to that Ben Huggins’ vocals: an impossible combination of venom and helium. A winged serpent that spits poison and then rises through the clouds. Many of us thought the band was made for superstardom, but the exact opposite happened.

Thirty five years later here we are, and the band has recovered that unique sound that made them so special in the 90s. Something that has to be highlighted is the production. It makes every musician shine in the session. Many will envy the sound of Simmons’ drums, but there are also Sonnier’s guitars that would make James Hetfield himself jealous. Cheap Trick doing covers of Ride the Lightning.

“Out of the Darkness” is crushing, yet it never loses its melodic sense for a single moment. “Super Spreader” drops us right into the kind of mosh pit Anthrax used to create, those dense, slow, heavy passages. Then they hit the accelerator and the thrash metal riffs surge like they’re coming out of a machine. This is possibly the moment the band gets closest to Metallica, but afterward they take flight during the chorus.

There is something Galactic Cowboys understand better than many other bands, and that is the influence of Budgie in the construction of astonishing riffs, which is precisely what brings them close to Metallica. “Blinders” even has a bit of Faith No More, with its unexpected arrangements, and once again they introduce choruses that sound like the Beatles. It’s impossible to deny the Beatle influence on “Mr. KnowItAll.”

“I Can’t Let Go” is some of the heaviest material on this record. The band closes the album, and maybe their career, with “Find Our Way Home,” a track that shows a strong Pink Floyd influence. What Planet Are You From? is one of the best hard rock albums of the year, right alongside Stryper’s Throne of Thorns.

If we were in the 90s, the excitement for this album would be uncontainable. After Simmons’ death, the band’s future is once again uncertain. Thirty five years later we realize they should have been superstars.