The Socks - The Socks (OUT NOW!)

Heavy wicker-rock! Classic heavy vibes from France for those that like it earthy and old school!

Was there something in the water in the '70s that increased hair growth in young men? And also gave them a pre-disposition towards making groove-propelled heavy rock? If so that water is in plentiful supply in Lyon, France. The Socks are a four-piece rock band from said city, whose music worships the Holy Trinity of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

With one foot in the guitar shop buying overdrive pedals and vintage amps, and the other on the dense forest floor fighting off dragons and saving maidens this is classic heavy rock, with lyrics that have a mystical, mythical bent. Magik, dragons, sorcery and all that arcane malarkey. And why not? It sure as hell beats the real world don't it! This album has got that post hippie era feel, where rock had lost any notion of naïvety and became heavier, infused with a driving, dark energy.

The album's cover features a beaked mask made up of bark and leaves. There's a real forest undergrowth, pagan feel to it all, helped in no small part by the mushroom brown hues. It's art that hints at all things folkloric. Similarly the music has that earthy, organic feel. Like a more metallic version of Wolf People, this is music that goes against the grain of modern society and searches for truth and beauty in a sound that may hark back to previous eras but resonates with a truth and beauty that remains eternal.

OK, it won't be everyone's cup of nettle tea, and no amount of electric sorcery will turn mods into rockers after all. But for anyone who feels they were born a few decades too late, or is looking for something to remind them of rock's golden years this is just the thing. Wah-wah guitar solos, paint-stripping vocals, and a band that understands how to play heavy. A fine full-length debut from The Socks and a fitting addition to the Small Stone Records catalogue.

Click here for The Socks' website.

Click here for Small Stone Records

Freedom Hawk - European Tour Dates

One of the best heavy rock albums of the last couple of years was without doubt Holding On by Virginian rock quartet Freedom Hawk. Good news then that the band are due to play some rare European dates this April. Unfortunately good ol' Blighty is not on the itinerary but hey, the mainland just a short hop these days.

April 5 - Siegen, Germany, VORTEX
April 6 - Antwerp, Belgium, AMC
April 7 - Paris, France, Le Glazart
April 8 - Dusseldorf, Germany, The Pitcher
April 9 - Berlin, Germany,  Jagerklause
April 10 - Tilburg, Netherlands, Roadburn Festival
April 11 - Wurzburg, Germany,  Immerhin
April 12 - Munster, Germany,  RARE Guitar

www.freedonhawk.net

 

Luder - Adelphophagia (OUT NOW!)

A winning mix of shoegaze and Sabbath-inspired riffage from female-fronted Detroit four piece.

If a band was to pick a Davie Bowie song to cover, most would opt for for something from his '70s or early '80s output. There are not many bands that would choose Bowie's 1997 single “I'm Afraid Of Americans”. But there again Luder (for it is they) are no ordinary band. On Adelphophagia, the band's 2^nd long-player and follow up to 2009's Sonoluminescence, the band's version of the lesser-spotted-Bowie-single adds a rock guitar slant to Bowie and Eno's squelchy electro-funk. It's a choice that tells you much about Luder. They've one foot in the four-square grunge rock classicist camp, while slyly casting admiring eyes and taking note of the more avant-garde, artful and experimental. The Lady Gagas of rock if you can picture that for a second. Well maybe not, but if anyone remembers electronic rock duo Curve, that may give you an idea of what we're dealing with.

It's this mix of leftfield rock and big choruses that gives the album it's strength. It's moody, but big on groove. The album's release on Small Stone Records marks something of a stylistic departure for a label that's usually associated with a more macho stoner rock sound. This branching out into more cerebral meditative territory can do no harm though. The riffs when they do come will still satisfy die-hard rock fans, they're hard hitting and perhaps all the more effective for the band's otherwise restrained use of dynamics. While difficult to pigeon-hole into one stylistic genre, as there are various strands in Luder's musical DNA, it's this effortless blending that ultimately stands in the band's favour, and anyone willing to listen will no doubt be won over. Oh and the album title? It's what happens when an embryo consumes another in utero. So now you know!

Click here for Luder's website.

Click here for Small Stone Records.

 

Sasquatch - IV

Fourth album of big-footed stoner metal from LA's premier power trio.

It's a bold act that decides to release albums in a numbered sequence. Those big name acts that have done it previously seem to have pulled it off though; Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel and Scott Walker have all put out firm musical statements that more than justify those heavy Roman numerals.

Now here come Sasquatch, heaviest of the heavy with IV, an album which bludgeons the listener from start to finish with supercharged, propulsive rock. Drawing from the best of the past – acts such as Grand Funk, Blue Cheer, and Black Sabbath, the '90s North-west grunge scene, as well as their contemporaries on the stoner and doom scenes, Sasquatch have once again come up with the goods.

Opening with straight-ahead rocker The Message, the album then broadens out to reveal plenty of surprises. There's the circular, descending riff of Eye Of The Storm with its mystical, loaded lyrical references to white horses and seventh moons; The devilish tritone interval used to full effect on Smoke Signal; the blues-rock overdrive mode achieved on Me And You, as well as the classic rock-isms on Corner.

Alongside the album's metallic roots there's the odd notable influence of the last 10 years of electrified country blues. Check out the bluesy riffing on Sweet Lady which bears a likeness to The Black Key's I Got Mine, complete with its Jack White-esque, octave-leaping guitar break. Mostly they sound utterly like themselves though. Four album's in for a band that show no sign of running out of steam or ideas. Long may they rock.

Click here for more on Sasquatch.

Five Horse Johnson - The Taking Of Black Heart

Down 'n' dirty blues rock. The wild west conjured up via some boogie 'n' roll. Features guest vocals from Cheap Trick's Robin Zander.

Anyone with too sensitive a nature may want to give Five Horse Johnson a wide berth. The Toledo five-piece make music that doesn't pander to namby pambys. Instead they make hard, driving blues-rock that conjures up the pioneering spirit of the wild west; hard working, hard drinking, unapologetic and not to be messed with. Of course, some of us have a constitution that can handle that stuff. If that's the case stick around for tales of stubborn horses, wanted posters, hangmen, hard living, hard loving, and eye-for-an-eye retribution.

The band's seventeen years together has seen them release seven albums, the latest of which, The Taking Of Black Heart, maintains their trademark sound of electrified, heavy blues. The Job opens the album with vague, whale-like noises lulling you into a false sense of security before the drums and Zep-style riffs kick in, the guitar lines bolstered by some close following blues harp. “Will I stay on the road till I get what I'm owed?” sings vocalist Eric Oblander, neatly summarising the position of many a dues-paying rock band. Well, that's the road for you! As addictive as nicotine!

And that's the place where this album works best. I've given it a fair few spins over the last couple of weeks – at home, at work, even in bed. But the place where it makes most sense is on the open road, or in my case the A63. And a companionable travel buddy it is too, full of one-chord boogies pitched somewhere between Junior Kimbrough and ZZ Top. Of extra appeal to the older rockers out there will be the guest vocal appearance by Cheap Trick's Robin Zander on the soulful and funky You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Talk About It). One for the road anyone?

Click here for Five Horse Johnson's website.

Infernal Overdrive - Last Rays Of The Dying Sun (Small Stone Records 2012)

 Debut album of classic rock riffage from New Jersey's hard rocking quartet.

Having recently reviewed a couple of their releases for www.audioscribbler.co.uk, I've recently become an admirer of Small Stone Records, a record label that's based in Detroit, Michigan. Home to an ever growing roster of classic rock, hard rock, blues rock, metal, and stoner rock bands, they're purveyors of a sound that wouldn't cut it with your Shoreditch fashionista but has a loyal and discerning worldwide audience. Defiantly anti-fashion, it's a label that does what it likes and likes what it does.

I also like the label's tradition of fantasy fuelled album covers. Each illustrated cover harking back to hard rock's golden era, usually featuring some sort of mythical beast emerging from the earth, sky or sea to endanger the lives of your humble rock band and fan. The cover of Last Rays Of The Dying Sun, the debut album from New Jersey's Infernal Overdrive is no exception; a horned, winged, red-skinned monster/devil peers over a hillside, his fiery tongue merging with the road on which our hapless heroes travel along in their souped up automobile. The inside sleeve shows a burning road sign declaring it “Route 666”. Crikey! Shall we go for a ride then?

Click over the jump for more on Infernal Overdrive