Rodney DeCroo's War Torn Man: Reviewed by Matthew Borczon

        Rodney DeCroo's video War Torn Man is set against a mythical backdrop of toy soldiers and fire. Vivid images that are of no specific war so they can represent all wars. I was struck immediately by the echo and hollow sound to the vocal, I found this quite effective. The lyrics are hard and sparse. No wasted words or images. The story is as much about what he doesn't learn from his fathers experience as what he does. The song reaches its highest power during the spoken word portion that hits you dead in the heart and gut all at once. The lead in to this is a killer guitar solo that buzzes like a chain saw, creating a haunting pulsing video of the highest order!

           As a war vet myself and a man living with PTSD I appreciate this song for its honest look at a man and veteran. DeCroo does not claim to identify with his father or pretend he knows war in his blood like he was there himself. No, he is writing from the point of view of a son dropped in the middle of his father's nightmare. This has its own sad power captured perfectly in the video images of toy soldiers and strange surroundings. War Torn Man is a song that gets on you like gasoline and then dares you to dance too close to the fire.


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Visit DeCroo's Bandcamp page for more https://rodneydecroo.bandcamp.com/
and on Spotify.

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Matthew Borczon is a writer from Erie, Pa. He has published five books of poetry including A Clock of Human Bones through Yellow chair review press, Battle Lines through Epic Rites, Ghost Train through Weasel Press, Sleepless Nights and Ghost soldiers from Grey Boarders press and Capp Road from Nixes mate press. He works as a nurse for adults with special needs and raises four children with his wife of 21 years. 

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