Good Luck (Lonesome Day, 2014)

With a handle like Girls, Guns and Glory, you might expect this outfit to sound like a heavy metal band. After all, it reads like a banner that might have served as the title for an album by Motley Crue, Megadeth or any other hard rock hero. So while this Boston-based band does serve up its share of balls-out rockers, the edgier offerings are tastefully intertwined between an equal number of frayed ballads, allowing the emotions to ricochet between triumph and tragedy.

Five albums on, Girls, Guns and Glory have yet to make any real headway with an Americana audience, much less the populace at large. The fact that they're from Boston rather than Austin may have something to do with it; after all, those environs harbour more rock than country (Aerosmith, the J Geils Band and Boston, anyone?) Still, any band that breaks the mold deserves due credit, so in that regard, Girls, Guns and Glory start off one step ahead rather than a couple of laps behind.

Now that the band is marking the release of their fifth, it's time to take stock. Is it essential? Likely not. Is it entertaining? Decidedly so. Here's a set of songs that could be considered their best yet. The more propulsive tracks ("Be Your Man," "Shake Like Jello," "Built For Speed") are what one might expect of a group that's played its share of roadside dives - a sound that's brash, brazen and irreverent to the max. The slower tunes ("All The Way Up To Heaven," "One Of These Days," "Rockin' Chair Money") are equally affecting, mostly weary reflections of life as viewed from the rear view mirror, somewhat bittersweet and riddled with remorse. "UUU" straddles the life between both extremes however, a billowing anthem that proves all they need is, in fact, a little of that good luck alluded to in the title to get them the kudos they deserve.