Lotus Pedal could be straight from the imagination of a screen writer needing a 'metal' type band for a scene but not having a clue about this old rock, punk, and roll thing we all hold close to our hearts so only has old clichés available for reference. Drummer Paul Strachan goes by the nickname 'Machine Gun', guitarist Todd Shainoff by the name 'Race' and bass player Jeff Brodsky simply as JB with Machine Gun and Race sharing vocals on the album ,'Pedal to the Metal'; well, what else could you call an album by a metal band named Lotus Pedal?

Lotus Pedal are on a mission to bring sci-fi stoner metal to the masses, drawing on influences from all things metal, hard rock and progressive rock over the last 40 years with futuristic and sci-fi themed lyrics. Opening track 'Evil Plagues' is an instrumental that plods along and after a while feels as though is on a loop as it becomes so monotonous even before the half decent solo gives it some life injection. 'Show No Mercy' starts off like a classic powerhouse Saxon number and is probably the track of the album, 'Dark Trance' has a promising start with guitars at fuzz level 11 crunching along in what feels like another instrumental as it's so long before the vocals kick in. 'Rock Generation' finally does as it says in the title and rocks along like a good 'un and another stand out, whilst 'Social Butterfly' obeys the quality standard 3 minutes or under rule and pays dividends for it is heads down and straight to the point no nonsense garage punk. 'Flying Dutchman' is prog too far and after the first minute of progness there is hope as it moves into a Rob Zombie feel with the guitars chugging and speeding along which you could imagine sounding most pleasurable in a live environment after a gallon of ale or a few smokes of the 'Lotus Pedal' variety.

The album finishes with two bonus tracks for the U.K. market with 'Payback's a Bitch', a song about cosmic wheels and what goes up must come back down, is quite catchy and reminiscent in sound of recent Zodiac Mindwarp releases and 'Karma Soldier' is another tripped out offering and a decent enough closing track.

The album lacks focus though and with a bit of fine tuning and a little bit more editing and shortening and rearranging of song structures things could have been so much better. This is one of those albums that you can't dislike and don't mind hearing as there is enough on board this starship of interest for the ears; it's just if you were looking for an album to play from your collection you probably wouldn't choose this.

www.reverbnation.com/lotuspedal