Tuesday 19 December 2017

Rews - Pyro album review

Guitar and drums duo, Rews, explode onto the scene with heavy riffs and poppy hooks that deserve far more credit than the rather one dimensional label of "the female Royal Blood".

When Brighton pair Royal Blood created an entirely new sound that drew both mainstream and old school rock fans with their critically acclaimed eponymous debut in 2014, the game changed. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin style riffs and poppy choruses sewed together two so very separate parts of musical culture so inexplicably well that it was almost impossible to see how such an innovative sound could be further innovated. Well, up step REWS, there's a new player in the game.

Shauna Tohill (vocals, guitar and keys) and Collette Williams (drums and vocals) have seen Royal Blood's dirty blues-based gruff and raised them vocal harmonies. Adding such texture to the fuzzy pop cocktail presents you with an idea of what Heart could have sounded like if Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore or Jimmy Page had collaborated.

They don't ever over do the harmonies though. Sometimes their intertwined voices are on show throughout and other times it's either lady on her own with the occasional word given a smattering of extra honey. Either way the tone is measured perfectly, with some songs only given a little extra and others a full blown scream fest - which is quite literally in the case on Violins.

Another avenue where Rews can't be compared to the Royal Blood blueprint is the sheer variety of tracks on offer - something Royal Blood haven't managed over two albums. Let It Roll goes full Sabbath from the intro, whereas Death Yawn (despite the morbidity of the title) is a far more up beat, poppy outing. Your Tears perfectly combines the two styles to produce a song that is both poppy and heavy in equal measure.

With ten songs squeezed into 32-minutes, Pyro is a firecracker of a record that serves to light the fuse of Rews' skyward rocket.

Rating - 4/5