STONE MACHINE – Rock Ain’t Dead (CD digi)

Rock sure ain’t dead, and Stone Machine prove it again, for the third time! This band sure has kept the same driving energy and punch-in-your-face classic hard rock attitude ever since the first riff on the debut. Think classic Bad Company meets the debut Cry Of Love album. A match made in classic rawk heaven! Singer Jason Mays has a great bluesy vibe and feel, and I truly love his slightly raspy voice. Guitarist/basist/keyboardist and songwriter Dirk Blevins plays some mean catchy riffs and he’s got a really groovy rhythm style going on as well. The groovy rocker Got It Bad sounds like if AC/DC and Aerosmith had a baby back in the mid-seventies. I really love the old school, Joe Perry:ish guitar sound. There’s a nice touch of good old southern rock á la Lynyrd Skynyrd in tracks like Sad To Say and the band’s own Freebird: Mr. Blues, appropriately dedicated to the late Ronnie Van Zant. A band ain’t better than its weakest link. I’ll be damned if I can find one here though. It sure ain’t drummer Jeremy Hall, who’s really good a great groove and drives the whole package in the best possible way. The title track sure has a groove as big as they come! It’s impossible to sit still to this one I assure you! Sugar Mama shows some killer Led Zep vibes and the legacy of Bonham is definitely hovering over this one! Man, I’d LOVE to see this band live! If they sound this loose and lethal on record I can’t imagine what they will deliver on stage, but I’d sure like to know! Fans of southern style bluesy hard rock and bands like Cry Of Love, Electric Mary, Bad Company, King Kharma, Rufus Huff etc this one’s for you! While you’re at it – get all three!

Janne Stark

Year: 2014

Country: USA

Label: Grooveyard Records

Link: www.facebook.com/pages/Stone-Machine/188100952228

BLACK MOUNTAIN PROPHET - Notorious Sinner (CD) - corrected

Jarrod England is one helluva singer. He proved it in Rufus Huff and here he proves it again, now in Black Mountain Prophet. Rufus Huff is gritty, raw, bluesy hard rock and Black Mountain Prophet actually have some similarities with Rufus, especially in songs like I’m Ready, which is high class classic bluesy hard rock with a touch of vintage Humble Pie or Free. The same goes for the catchy I-can’t-stop-singing-along-rocker Too Much Of A Good Thing. Groovy, rocking, bluesy and so damn good. Bob Watkins and singer Jarrod are two helluva great guitarists! Jarrod also has some really tasteful slide playing under his belt, besides handling drums and bass in some songs. Don't you just hate such talented people ;-). Wish I was... It actually took a few spins for this album to really sink in, but now it’s become one of my favourites! It ranges from good old bluesy hard rock to up-tempo rockers like Speed Freak and cool heavy stuff like the title track. This one, just like Poor Ole Broken Heart balances between wanting to break loose and rock out, but still keeping a cool restraint vibe with Jarrod’s gritty, bluesy soulful voice all over it. If you’re missing bands like Cry Of Love or King Karma, this one’s definitely for you. A killer!!

Janne Stark

Country: USA

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2013

GORDON FIGHTS - Gordon Fights (CD)

The album starts off with a slight nod to Black Sabbath’s “Warpigs” in the drum intro but then takes it in an entirely different direction, to suddenly slow the tempo down and get into a heavy riff, which then smoothes out and we are lead into a really soft, almost 60s influenced verse. The song then goes back and forth between heavy 70s riffs and smooth 60s psychedelica with some cool backwards guitars. Interesting indeed! Funnily enough the subsequent track, "Birds & Flowers", starts off very close to AC/DCs “Have A Drink On Me”, but like the the first track these guys are just pulling our legs (or ears) and we head off elsewhere. Here they go all boogie instead. Here they actually remind me a bit of The Hellacopters at times, in a good way. “Dance Quite Well” has some really killer southern style bluesy riffing going on and draws my mind to bands like Preacher Stone, Cry Of Love or Lynyrd Skynyrd in their heavier moments. A killer track indeed. This is a pretty versatile album in all its simplicity, I must say. The sound is quite clean, but still really heavy and with great dynamics. These guys sometimes sounds like they were at their height way back even before they were born. Very authentic indeed and I really like it! Singer Viktor Balkewitsch Persson has a cool voice, quite clean but still a bit gritty when he needs to. A prefect fit for the music. I think this will definitely attract fans of bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft etc as well. Back to the songs, Gordon Fights also do a really killer, southern acoustic porch style blues in “Brothers And Sisters” with some great female gospel style backing vocals giving it an even more authentic feel. I tell you, when these boys bring out guns like “No Rope Around Me” it’s damn well impossible to sit still. These guys rock and they groove! With a capital G! After having let this platter spin a few times I tell you, there’s not one single weak track on this album! It’s all a perfect match, the music, the songs, the sound, the vocals and the musicians. Together with the new The Quill album, they are at the top of my “Best Of The Month” list. I just can’t make any sense of the name,  but that’s another story.
Janne Stark
Label: Transubstans
Country: Sweden
Year: 2011
Link:  http://gordonfights.se/