The second album from Fort Worth's 100 Damned Guns starts off right where you would expect, with a honky-tonk love song about lost love, which is the sound that fits the band best. Indeed, Musica de Tormento continues the band's mixture of honky-tonk-meets-bluegrass rave-ups and your standard, classic-sounding, heartstring-pulling songs.
Dave Sherrill still sings the bluegrass-leaning songs like the album's second track, "Ain't That Bad Anymore," and Judd Pemberton still takes the lead on the traditional country and honky-tonk songs like "One More Time." At times, Sherrill's monotone and bellowing vocals can be a little much to handle, but it fits neatly into gems like "Old Barbwire" that are sprinkled throughout the album.
Where this album excels, though, is in capturing the band's live sound. It's a step in the right direction for songwriting and musicianship that comes with endless live performance: On Musica de Tormento, 100 Damned Guns sounds tighter than ever.
The album also pulls off a feat that is hard for a band of any caliber to match: There's very little filler here. If the boys keep this up, national notoriety could be next.
