Red Lamb-Red Lamb

Self-Released/Independent
2013

Wow, for the two people involved in this "project" you'd think there would have been a press-release or something. Instead this was album was released with no fanfare and, had it not been for the fact that I came across a review of it in Classic Rock (February 2012 issue), there's no telling if I'd have ever heard it or not. The two people involved you might be asking? Try Dan Spitz and Dave Mustaine! Guitarist Dan Spitz is of course known for his time spent in Anthrax (A band that I wish he'd return to) and Dave Mustaine is the main driving-force behind Megadeth. "Officially" the line-up for this album includes Dan Spitz (lead guitar, guitar, bass guitar, programming, background vocals, engineering, co-producer) and Don Chaffin (vocals). In addition the pair is aided some 'Brothers In Arms' in the form of Patrick Johansson (drums) and Chris Vrenna (programing and synths). Dave apparently co-write every song on the album with Dan. Why "apparently"? I'll get to that in a bit. DeuxMonkey was originally supposed to be the name of this "super group" and, according to Dave Mustaine himself, the music was said to be in the same vein as Distured, Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine. That last band does come into play (unfortunately) with some of the songs on this album featuring rap-singing. It's not something I care to elaborate on as it's as bad as it sounds. Mostly though this sounds like the red-headed step-brother of Anthrax collaborating with a half-asleep Dave Mustaine. It's like he's giving them pointers on how to be a better breed of (later day) Megadeth while, for reasons known only to Dave and God, at the same time dipping their toes into some Metallica circa 1991. For most of this the lyrics seem plenty cheesy although "Puzzle Box" stands out as it is about autism. This subject hits close to home for the former Anthrax guitarist as Dan and his wife Candi are raising twin boys who suffer from autism. Having worked with autistic children myself I commend Dan for tackling such a subject. Now, as far Dave goes, and his involvement with this band, it's debatable if his contributions started and ended with him just helping out with the lyrics. Don Chaffin could very well be the only singer on this release, but some of these songs bear the unmistakable vocal delivery of Dave Mustaine. So, there's three options here I guess. Either it's all Don Chaffin and he just sounds like a slightly off-kilter Dave on a few of these tracks (I did listen to some of Don Chaffin's supposed other work and he doesn't sound at all like Dave on those), it's both Don and Dave singing (with Dave not taking any credit for some unknown reason) or it's Dave singing and they just list Don as the lead vocalist for whatever reason. My guess is that it's that second one and that they both sing on this album. I will say that I have a head cold and I'm all stuffed up as I'm listening to the album so I could be wrong. Regardless it is really strange that there was no press release for this or anything and then there's the fact that it was released on iTunes on a Friday (supposedly from what I've read) which, let's face it, is also odd.  Anyone with more information on this project please drop me a line as I'm rather curious about the whole who, what and why of Red Lamb.