Black Country Communion - BCCIV album review

Black Country Communion aren't and have never been a standard rock band. Comprised of four of the greatest musicians alive today, the super group have undoubtedly become the standard bearers of exceptionally well crafted, soulful rock songs since they joined forces in 2010. BCCIV only further cements their already impressive legacy.

From the ashes, rises a majestic phoenix

After a somewhat acrimonious and rancorous split in 2013 over how seriously band members were taking BCC as a full time project - or not in Joe Bonamassa's case - it seems a perfect example of absence making the heart grow fonder. Or, more accurately, the musical chemistry.

It's worth pointing out that without the split we wouldn't have had some incredible solo albums - Bonamassa's Blue Of Desparation and Glenn Hughes' Resonate - but given how the split happened it was probably for the best anyway.

It's fitting however that the album cover is a phoenix rising from the ashes; a tad self indulgent but at the same time couldn't be more appropriate.

BCCIV kicks off with the sole single Collide. With John Bonham's son Jason behind the skins it's unsurprising a good amount of this album has a Zeppy feel but nowhere is that influence more obvious than here. It cuts a striking resemblance to Black Dog with Bonamassa's tumbling riff but Glenn Hughes gives the song a different dimension with his soaring vocals. It's the shortest song bar one on this record but by golly does it make up for that with out and out power.

Last Song For My Resting Place is the first example on this disc of the long form song structure we've come to expect from BCC. At eight minutes it's certainly an epic and it's bolstered by the strength of the song writing. Accompanied by a mandolin and fiddle and backing vocals courtesy of Hughes, Bonamassa tells the story of Wallace Hartley - the man who played his violin as the mighty Titanic sank into the icy Atlantic waters. The song glides effortlessly through four minutes at a solemn pace before it kicks into high gear with a dark and dramatic Bonamassa solo. It's a classic for the BCC archives, no doubt.

L to R: Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian

Don't let the musical grandiosity of The Cove fool you: it's a song about Hughes' love of dolphins. While I have no issue with the subject in itself, it's not the standard of songwriting we've come to expect from BCC. It's dressed up with Hughes' signature wailing but it's sadly one of the weakest songs the quintet have produced - which given the standard they've accrued still makes it a decent track.

All is well again on follow up track The Crow. A pounding riff slaps you in the face and reminds you just what BCC are capable of. The relay of solos midway through are the highlight; first a groovy bass solo from Hughes, followed by the shimmering organ of Derek Sherinian and capped off by Bonamassa.

Love Remains is a simply written, somber tribute Hughes wrote to his father on his way to his memorial service. Sadly, when he went to record it his mother died and so the song became a homage to both. Hughes almost imitates a choir with his angelic vocals on the chorus. It's a touching song that adds nuance to an otherwise hard edged album.

Awake is the best track on the record from a technical viewpoint. It's the perfect example of all four musicians in tune with each other - interweaving fiddly riffs around a high speed tempo.

The album closes with When The Morning Comes. It offers a brilliant juxtaposition between Bonamassa, Bonham and Sherinian's Zep driven riff and Hughes' chilled out vocals. Bonamassa gets his heavy blues solo in, Bonham's fluid fills and dappled throughout Sherinian's delicate piano - it's a triumph of song writing and composition. Sherinian - who maintains a a fairly low profile throughout BCCIV - shines on this track for his dexterity of style. One verse he's playing a light and airy organ to accompany Hughes and the next he's delivering a searing Jon Lord style Deep Purple solo.

I really hope BCC stick together for the long haul. They are one of the best bands in the world but it remains to be seen if the phoenix will continue to soar or disappear into the ash once again.

Rival Sons Live at Cambridge Junction

The comparisons between the very first live show I saw and the most recent are startling.

In 2011, I was introduced to Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same film, shot at Madison Square Garden in the summer of 1973. The inhabitants of the Mothership were at their peak, jet-setting across the globe, considered Gods among men. That live performance was everything rock music should be; controlled but completely unleashed and primal in the same token. The cohesion of Page, Plant, JPJ and Bonham was mesmerising, magical and magnificent, holding 20,000 in awed spectators in the palm of their hand and feeding off the electricity that filled the air that night in New York. At Cambridge Junction, some 44 years later, in front of some 19,250 fewer people, Rival Sons had the same effect. 

Credit: Jane Dawson

Rival Sons - who many have coined the new Led Zeppelin - have evolved immeasurably since their Earache label debut album, Pressure and Time, in 2011. Head Down (2012) and Great Western Valkyrie (2014) were great albums in their own right, but are mere thumbnails in time compared to the soulful sensation of Hollow Bones (2016): their Led Zeppelin IV to continue the analogy.

Credit: Jane Dawson

The Long Beach, California, quartet (quintet when you include keyboardist and beard enthusiast Todd Ogren-Brooks) opened with the first three tracks from Hollow Bones; Hollow Bones Pt.1, Tied Up and Thundering Voices.

Great Western Valkyrie got a generous showing throughout the night too, getting as many track plays as Hollow Bones; the raucous Electric Man, the infectiously groovy Secret - one of my absolute favourite Rival Sons songs - Belle Star, the beautiful Where I've Been - in memory of a dearly departed friend - and Open My Eyes, which borrows its drum intro heavily from Zep's When the Levee Breaks: that's no bad thing, mind.

Two thirds through the set, we heard three tracks that Rival Sons recorded right at the beginning of their careers; Tell Me Something, Face Of Light and Torture. For songs written before any of their big hits, I was bowled over by the greatness of these tracks. Tell Me Something and Torture are what you would normally expect from Rival Sons, whereas Face Of Light is reminiscent of Zep's The Rain Song, albeit almost half the length.

Heading into the final stretch, Rival Sons played the penultimate track from Hollow Bones, Hollow Bones Pt. 2 - a frenzied seven minute number that's so chaotic it's incredible the band members keep it together. It's hard rocking, but also quiet and reserved in spots before erupting again, with Jay screaming various religious affirmations at the top of his lungs.

Finally, the Sons played their first single from Head Down; Keep On Swinging. This was also the first song I'd heard of theirs after being recommended to listen to them. It's easy sing-along chorus was a great way to end the show.

What comes across so marvelously in a live environment is their ability to be in the "pocket". To get to a place within the music where they're so comfortable that they could be at the O2 Arena or practicing at home, it still oozes the same gut wrenching passion and soul that sucks you in and leaves you yearning for more. 

Credit: Jane Dawson

The comparisons between the individual members of Rival Sons and Led Zeppelin are interesting to explore too. You almost don't notice Rival Sons' bassist, Dave Beste, in the best possible way. He's unassuming but incredibly crucial, piping up occasionally for backing vocal duties. Michael Miley on drums looks and plays more similarly to John Bonham than he'd probably be comfortable admitting - even ripping through a long Moby Dick style solo a la The Song Remains The Same while his band mates enjoy a rest. The comparison with Scott Holiday and Jimmy Page isn't in playing style especially, but in the way they experiment with sounds. For Page it was a theremin and using a celo bow over his guitar strings, for Holiday it's the plethora of pedals that bestow him the nickname 'Fuzz Lord'. Lastly, but by no means least, Jay Buchanan is the first front man in decades to revitalise the character of the 1970s. Not in the way he thrusts his 'pocket rocket' like Robert Plant, but the way he leaves you hanging on every word, howling and shrieking as if his body has been possessed by the spirit of the music: it's utterly, irresistibly, sensational.

Jay said at the end of the gig, rather beautifully I think: "We've been opening for Black Sabbath for 18 months, and that's so cool, but nothing beats this! It's so much more intimate and we love it."

Crobot - Welcome To Fat City album review

Welcome To The Potsville Nebula!

I would advise drawing a deep breath before diving into Crobot. If you don't, you may well be left a stupefied mess by this blast of cosmological psychedelia.  

Credit: nuclearblast.de

Musically, they're controlled in their chaos - like King Crimson minus the idiosyncratic acid-driven, seemingly decade long instrumentals - swirling and swaying a miasma of rhythm, riffs and quirky distortion until you're induced into a psychedelic coma: Crobot would have fitted right in cerca 1966-69.

The genre is a tricky one to pin down though - heavy psychedelic space rock - at a punt. Imagine what would have happened if Jefferson Airplane, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath had given birth to a sub-genre and you'll get a vague idea of just how out there Crobot are!

Despite WTFC being a very spacey album, there are varying degrees of pothead craziness interwoven throughout the 12 tracks. The title track, for example, opens with a colossal smash of drums and riffage, and is only added to with guitarist Chris Bishop's unique use of a Vox Joe Sattriani Time Machine Delay pedal, creating some kind of inter-dimensional, oscillating warp speed shrill - an effect that pops up regularly in this edition of Crobot's discography. 

Bringing the insanity of the album back down to earth a little is Easy Money - the only track on the album that harks back to the roots of the blues with a heavy, plodding rhythm and a harmonica solo. 

If there's one example on here of a song starting as one thing and quickly changing to a total juxtaposition, it's Hold On For Dear Life. A perfectly serene guitar tone is projected for 30 seconds or so, before an enormous, monstrous, marauding Sabbath-esque barrage comes crashing through the ether like a locomotive pounding through a sleepy village. To give it higher praise still, it has very much the same balking impact as Tony Iommi's ominous opening strums on the band's eponymous track.

Much in the same vein as Hold On To Dear Life - except without the opening diversion - Plague Of The Mammoths delivers yet more Sabbath inspired doom. What's more, we're treated to an entire solo from Bishop with the Vox Joe Sattriani Time Machine Delay, producing a mesmeric, other worldly soundscape. 

Once you've regained your breath from your 35 minute odyssey through the potsville nebula, you'll want to start all over again!

Rating - 4/5

Sixx:A.M. - Vol. 2 Prayers For The Blessed album review; A Band In Reverse

Sixx:A.M. released Vol. 2 Prayers For The Blessed on 18 November as a companion to April's Vol. 1 Prayers For The Damned. Bassist Nikki Sixx, guitarist DJ Ashba and singer James Michael sat down with Shinedown's frontman, Brent Smith, in an exclusive radio special, to discuss the two albums and Sixx:A.M.'s transition as a side project with no rules to reluctantly becoming a full time band.

A Safe Haven

The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack - 2007

When Life Is Beautiful blew up on radio in 2007 and reached number two in the US mainstream chart, Sixx:A.M.'s promoters begged them to tour its parent album - The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack. There was an overriding issue though - neither Sixx, DJ nor Michael had ever played in the same room together. They were three artists who had come together as friends for a side project but never had any intentions to tour the material. They didn't want to be contained by the rules that came with labelling themselves a band - and were proud to do so.

"Sixx:A.M. was formed as a haven for the three of us who all had a lot of stuff going on in the music business already", says Michael, "a place for three guys who like each other as people but also have spent their entire adult lives and careers navigating the parameters of the music business. This began as a safe haven for us to basically break any rule we wanted, do whatever the heck we wanted to do musically, lyrically, production-wise. It was this gift of freedom that the three of us gave each other. We weren't trying to do the things we do in our main careers and we've carried that with us through all of the records and all the years."

Any touring would also come as quite an inconvenience. Sixx was still full- time with Motley Crue, DJ was five years into his solo career and various other projects and Michael was writing and producing for The Exies, Marion Raven,  Motley Crue and Scorpions. However, as demand for a tour increased, Sixx:A.M. reluctantly embarked on a 40 date run with Crue Fest in the Summer of 2008 - a full year after The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack had been released.

"We kicked and screamed about that a lot", begins Sixx, "we didn't even know how to be a band".

"We were reluctant every step of the way", continues Michael, "not in a negative way, but we were so proud of the fact that we weren't a band. We had no rules that normally dictate what a band does. No obligation to tour. Just do what we wanted. We were always saying: 'Ah that's cool we can do that because we're not a band'; 'We can do a seven minute song, because we're not a band'. The transition from that has been very, very gradual. It's literally been ten years of writing and recording songs and not doing much touring. Nikki's said this a few times, "We're kind of a band in reverse."

A New Phase

At the tail end of 2015 however - after nine and a half years and three albums, which had all broken into the Top 30 of the US charts, with very minimal accompanied touring - Sixx:A.M. were in a position which would enable them to become a full time band. Motley Crue were finally retiring with a show on New Year's Eve following a tediously long farewell tour and DJ was leaving Guns 'n' Roses (whom he'd been with since 2009), with the impending return of Slash for the highly anticipated Not In This Lifetime world tour. Sixx explains how the tide had been turning for quite some time before then though: "Modern Vintage [2014] was the turning point. DJ was still in GNR, I was still wrapping up the final tour with Motley Crue and James was between producing. We said let's go out and do some shows and for a band that prided itself on being a project, I feel like we found ourselves a little bit."

"We figured the best way to kick-start that next phase of our career was to give the fans a lot of new music", reveals Michael, "so we went into the studio a little over a year ago with every intention to write two full records. What happened was at the half way point, we went out on tour for a little bit and that led to Vol. 1 having its own stand alone feel and Vol. 2 was elevated because it was influenced by this new touring experience, and I feel reflects a whole new Sixx:A.M. It's interesting to see the evolution from one to the other."

Vol. 2 Prayers For The Blessed

Vol. 2 Prayers For The Blessed - November 2016

Vol. 2 Prayers For The Blessed flaunts a marked improvement from previous works, with its vast variety of song content and production style. That said, Barbarians, We Will Not Go Quietly, The Devil's Coming and Wolf At Your Door from the A side are essentially a copy and paste job of the singles from Vol. 1; histrionic, radio-friendly alternative metal that is designed to be performed in arenas. Closing the A side is Catacombs, a 1:20 instrumental that only consists of DJ Ashba performing with his adept dexterity with some added whammy and distortion thrown in for good measure. While this tangent in content is cool to listen to, it offers nothing to the album and feels like a throw away track to fill the record - a prime example of the band's attitude to doing what they want with their creativity.

Now the B side is where Vol. 2 surpasses Vol. 1. The veracious quality of the song writing and song construction is clear here with the tracks That's Gonna Leave A Scar and Riot In My Head - which has a whiff of Queen going on in the latter part of the song.

The B side is also where we find an excellent cover of Badfinger's Without You, made famous by Harry Nilsson in 1971. Sixx:A.M. could have played it safe and simply done a standard cover, but instead set out to challenge themselves and thereby wrote an additional section and solo to beef up the middle of the song. It's difficult to make a song that's been covered 182 times sound unique, so Sixx explains the process behind their version of the song: "There's a middle eight that we wrote into it as a way to break up the song a little bit. We looked at the Wings concept of Live And Let Die: it's a little orchestrated. It's dramatic. We wanted to give it a little bit of meat." 

The combined imagery of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 make for compelling imagery

Taken as a whole, the combined quality of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 is far higher than The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack, This Is Gonna Hurt and Modern Vintage. Sixx accredits this to the new experience of simultaneously touring and writing: "Once we made that commitment to touring we started writing more songs that could be portrayed in a live environment as well as not losing our original roots. We wrote Helicopters (Vol. 2) and Rise Of The Melancholy Empire (Vol. 1) without knowing if they would be played live, whereas Barbarians, We Will Not Go Quietly (both Vol. 2) and Rise (Vol. 1) were written with every intention of being played in a live environment."

Rating - 4/5

You can listen to the full interview with Brent Smith here - http://sixxammusic.com/news/2016/12/5/new-sixxam-radio-special-hosted-by-shinedowns-brent-smith-available-now

You can also find my review of Vol. 1 Prayers For The Damned here -http://ramblingsofanessexlad.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/sixxam-prayers-for-damned-album-review.html

Airbourne - Breakin' Outta Hell album review

Airbourne are back with album number four - three years after Black Dog Barking - and there's absolutely no change in the formula; raw, in your face rock 'n' roll - the only way they know how and just how we like it.

In these days of digital amplifiers, dozens upon dozens upon dozens of every effect pedal imaginable and distortion laden pick-ups, it's refreshing to listen to a band who use only what's needed - drums, bass, stock Gibson guitars and 12 (yes 12!!!) Marshall stacks - to make rock 'n' roll sound the way it was meant to.

There are a few standout tracks; title track Breakin' Outta Hell, Thin The Blood - which sounds like a combination of Little Richard and Motorhead, and It's All For Rock 'N' Roll - a nod to AC/DC's For Those About To Rock.

As ever, Airbourne aren't afraid to write dirty lyrics that parents wouldn't want their little angel listening to - Down On You, Do Me Like You Do Yourself and When I Drink I Go Crazy need no explaining.

It's a very fun listen and will have anyone headbanging, even the parents.

Rating - 4/5

Philip Sayce - Influence album review

It would be bold of me to say, but I truly believe that in Philip Sayce we have a guitar God among us. His debut, 2009's Peace Machine, was, if anything, an attempt to replicate Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn for 15 tracks - rather than an original effort. It demonstrated his ferocious, fuzzy, wah infested, screaming, raw blues tone, and immediately catapulted him onto a pedestal with the best players ever. That said, it wasn't a particularly diverse piece of work. Five years on we have 2014's Influence - the Electric Ladyland of Sayce's discography if you will - a masterful performance of stratospheric proportions.

As the title alludes, Influence has a few covers; Ed Lewis and Prisoners' Tom Devil, Graham Nash's Better Days and Green Power by Little Richard. These tracks add the diversity that was arguably missing from Peace Machine, but there's still plenty of what Sayce's fans love him for; heavy riffs, screaming distortion and fluttering vibrato. Miles Miller and Chris Powell, on drums and bass respectively, compliment Sayce to such an extent, it isn't too far off feeling like you're listening to The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Out Of My Mind, I'm Going Home and Light Em Up, in particular, are majestic exhibitions of perfect chaos and intense rackets - vigorous riffs finished off with implausibly exceptional solos.

Sayce - like Hendrix with Little Wing - also shows that he has a softer side. The guitar on Fade Into You flanges beautifully with a tonne of reverb, almost dreamily, building and building, before Sayce launches into the best solo I've ever heard on a Sayce album. Triumph is similar although in instrumental form.

It will be very difficult for Sayce to out do this album - it represents his blossoming maturity as both a musician and guitarist - but whatever he comes up with, no doubt it'll be out of this world.

Rating - 9/10

Sixx:A.M. - Vol. 1 Prayers For The Damned album review

Sixx:A.M. was established nearly ten years ago as a side project for Motley Crue bassist, Nikki Sixx. Accompanied by Guns 'N' Roses guitarist, DJ Ashba and producer come singer, James Michael, the trio put together an audio documentation of Nikki's heroin addiction from his book; The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star. Brutal honesty, unsettling imagery and complex track mixing would define it and the three albums that followed.

Prayers For The Damned features many familiar themes; drug abuse, rehab and anarchy to name three. Rousing anthems When We Were Gods, Better Man and You Have Come To The Right Place are bookmarks on the album, exhibiting the extraordinary combination of Sixx's songwriting, Ashba's flamboyant fret-work and Michael's emotion ridden vocals.

There's lots of variety here too, though. Rise and Rise Of The Melancholy Empire are poles apart but both are executed with the same oomph and gusto. The former is clearly designed for non-stop commercial radio plays with it's rousing call to arms, whereas the latter is a slow burner that takes a minute to evolve from a melancholy piano verse into a thumping drum and rhythm guitar driven chorus, and finally Ashba's best solo on the disc to cap off a polished six minutes of dexterous musicianship. Safe to say it's going to be a song that's rarely played live, which says how far Sixx has come having been in a band that primarily specialized in crowd pleasing three minute tracks without much texture or substance.

PFTD is a grand departure from what Sixx was doing for 34 years previously and compellingly so - although it's difficult to compare the two bands in terms of musical style - but the step up in musical quality may be down to his band mates. Either that or he was being massively held back in Crue, which wouldn't be surprising when Vince Neil is your lead singer.

Rating - 7.5/10