Southern-boogie bandidos Molly Hatchet come out with guitars blazing on Beatin' the Odds. an album full of the same joie de violence that marked their first two Epic offensives. Amid a hail of mean metallic licks fired by thé front line of Dave Hlubek. Duane Roland and Steve Holland. Hatchet slash their way through such sensitive songs as "Dead and Gone" (an antismack anthem). "Double Talker" (a typical cheatin-woman blues) and "Poison Pen" (a potshot at crities) with all the subtlety of a Panzer division at play.

And that's exactly how it should be, since Molly Hatchet aren't particularly inventive writers. Lyrically, the group relies on most of the Dixie-rock obsessions already recorded for posterity by every Confederate band from the Allman Brothers to ZZ Top: the manifest macho destiny of the title track, the noble wanderer of "The Rambler" and hard-luck-in-love stories like "Get Her Back" and "Few and Far Between." So it's just as well that these guys simply beat the daylights out of this stuff with a Godzilla-style are attack that summons visions of Lynyrd Skynyrd in black-leather biker's gear or the Blue Öyster Cult in muddy overalls.

Skynyrd comparisons will probably dog Molly Hatchet as long as they have three guitarists. But at least Danny Joe Brown, a Ronnie Van Zant clone if there ever was one, is gone. Jimmy Farrar, the new lead singer, boasts considerably more emotional depth and manages to hold his own against Hatchet's mangy mashing. His hearty roar combines the gin soaked growl of Gregg Allman with the AOR mewling of the Atlanta Rhythm Section's Ronnie Hammond. Still, all the bloodcurdling guitars and bellowing in the world won't cover up the songwriting cracks in Molly Hatchet's rusty armor. (RS 329)

DAVID FRICKE