THE THORNBIRDS "All The Same"
by Donna Anderson

Cover: 8 Ducks out of 10.
This is a graphic cover! It has each band member in a tree with wings, they're birds I guess, and Russ is impaled on a giant thorn branch while the other band members are doing other things. The story is that a Thornbird sings just once in life and once it leaves the nest, it searches for a thorn tree. Once it finds one, it impales itself on the longest, sharpest spine and as it's dying, it out sings all the other birds. Not the cutest story in the world but the cover is portraying the legend.

Booklet: 6 Ducks out of 10.
I think this looks pretty professional. They have black & white photos behind lyrics, however, there is no thanks given to Metal Sludge! Can you believe that? Nothing at all! After that over sight they're lucky we let them on our CD.

Songs: 10 Ducks out of 10.
I've been listening to this CD a lot lately and I think it's great! If you're a fan of melodic rock along the likes of Marvelous 3 / Buch Walker / Lit / 40 Ft. Ringo / SR-71, etc, then you'll like this without a doubt. Singer Russ Parrish, who plays Rachet in Metal Skool, is the singer/guitarist in the band and is a hot piece of ass. Sorry but he is! I like every song on this record and there is nothing I can say bad about it. There are 12 songs total. I really like the acoustic song at the very end called "Thought You Should Know" because we can all relate to what it's about. It's a pretty powerful song.

Comments: The Thornbirds were formely called The Ducks but changed their name in the Fall of 2003 when they got this record deal. This CD came out this Spring and they also have a song, that's not on this record, on our Metal Sludge "Hey, That's What I Call Sludge" CD called "Elephants & Tangerines." The Thornbirds' CD called be purchased at Tower Records and you can visit www.TheThornbirds.net for more info.