Critic's Review
Matt Fink, All Music Guide
As they've gained recognition for a sound that has been said to fall somewhere between Johnny Cash and Motorhead, Chicken admirably balance metallic grunts with hillbilly twang. And from the album art, band photo, and bizarre song titles like "Troy's Got Sack," "Nine Holes of Pleasure," and "Zucchini Muffin," you could be excused for expecting a slightly less campy Reverend Horton Heat. The reality is, however, that they could just as easily draw comparisons to dusty plains country-rockers like Joe Ely in their more laid-back moments, which are surprisingly frequent. That being said, tracks like the aforementioned "Nine Holes of Pleasure," which doesn't have a golf reference to be found, do switch from relaxed, easy-going country harmonizing to all-out metal growl in the course of three minutes. Vocalist and songwriter Kurt Klinger shows himself a versatile leader, maneuvering through the disparate and dissonant elements with an alternately smooth and ragged delivery, holding together a polished sound that little reflects the budget constraints reportedly put on their recording sessions. Still, while their aesthetic is notably novel, one gets the impression that they'd probably have to lower themselves to a much higher level of ridiculousness to become stars.
