Big Ball – Hotter Than Hell (2010)

Who ordered and nicely cooked AC/DC clone?, apparently AFM records did with Big Ball. While the band never denies, and even encourages, the label of AC/DC clones, we find them to be good at capturing AC/DC’s sound and essence and providing a tiny-little-bit of their own into “Hotter Than Hell”, the band’s first full-length release.

As the band states, if you hate AC/DC you will hate us, so if you do then stop reading and move on to the next review. Big Ball is a pretty decent clone/tribute band to AC/DC and even the vocals sound strikingly similar to earlier the earlier style of Brian Johnson, but sometimes get a bit raspier and sound more like Udo Dirkschneider, still not bad.

With a catchy riffing and tight drumming, the band manages to capture the AC/DC sound perfectly, but take out a bit of the band’s soul in the process. Songs like “Free Fire Zone” just feel completely uninspired, just check the drumming, it’s just plain dull. Some of the riffing suffers from the same fate, but it’s usually compensated by the vocals and funny lyrics.

We can write a detailed comparison between Big Ball and AC/DC, but if we feel that would be complete overkill. This band offers nothing much other than a huge AC/DC influence, some of their own Hard Rock ideas, and not much inspiration. The songs sound cool but lack real passion behind them. We do enjoy “Hotter Than Hell” enough to keep it on our play-list for when we have the AC/DC craving. So if you don’t mind a decent clone-sounding hard rock band, then give Big Ball a chance.

Release: May 19th, 2010

Country: Australia