CD reviews: Rocco Deluca and The Burden – I Trust You To Kill Me – 66

Rocco Deluca owns a voice that flits between Jeff Buckley’s dramatic ululations and a young Robert Plant’s carnal exhortations, with a little bit of Thom Yorke’s amateur operatics on the side. On this impressive but disquietingly schizophrenic debut, Deluca and his group can’t seem to decide whether they want to make drama-rock like Buckley or early Radiohead, or the kind of atomic acoustic blues Led Zeppelin did so well on their third album. The most effective pieces go down the latter road, where rootsy dobro playing meets measured bursts of Bonham-esque power funk. Those who can handle the somewhat pointless mimicking will find much to enjoy.

From: Ironworks/Universal/US

Genre: Bluesy rock with a lemon twist

Music: 3.5/5

Sound: 3.5/5

GARY STEEL