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After reading about this
young Irish band I had to buy their debut CD "Rise" to see if they were
actually that good and I have to say I wasn't disappointed in any way!
"Under The Sky" was the only song that could have kicked off the CD.
A fine bluesy guitar lick accompanied by a typical "Walking" bass-line,
then jumping into a wall of sound that makes you sit up and wonder, how
old these lads actually are!? Hard blues/rock at it's best.
A guitar solo of top quality brings in "Never Too Late", surely their
homage to Led Zeppelin! The powerful sound of this song fills the
room, and if you close your eyes you can just imagine Robert Plant
strutting his stuff on stage singing this. A fine tribute to classic
70's rock and the strongest track on the CD.
"Come Follow Me" brings it all back up to date, fine vocals, fast
driving guitars and drums, then the tempo changes just at the right time
to bring in another fine guitar solo, before returning to the pounding
beat for a sharp finish.
It's a very Black Crowes - sounding song for the 4th track "Be What
You Want", the keyboards giving it a soulful/bluesy twang. The
rasping vocals well suited to the overall sound and the drummer obviously
enjoying himself on this one! Short but sweet!!
This easy sounding track gives way to a slow, dirty blues riff on
"Memphis Water". The gravelly vocals soaring in, sounding like a man
way beyond his age, then suddenly you're thrown into uptempo blues just
for good measure only to be dragged back to the slow groove again.
Marvellous.
Track 6 "No Questions Asked" has a definite hint of more 70's rock to it,
the drums building up at the start with the obligatory guitar solo over
it. Again the vocals are strong and aren't too dissimilar to a
certain Mr Plant in his heyday!
Next up is "Into The Gutter", another gutsy blues rock anthem with the
guitar sliding away above yet more driving bass and drums, and as the song
went on, dare I say it would be something AC/DC would be proud of!
"Sometimes Your Love" for me has a very 90's sound to it, almost
different from the others on this disc. It really shows the quality
of Cormac Neeson's voice as he goes through 2 separate bridges to bring
the song to an end without any struggle. The mark of an accomplished
singer.
The 9th track "Leavin' Today" is a mixture of styles. Fast,
mid-tempo, a touch of stuttering then back to the usual hard blues/rock
with the vocals almost spitting out above it all as if you were being
ordered to listen. A very strong song on par with the rest.
"Preachin" begins with a lovely slide guitar, bringing a thumping drum
and bass to life with the laid-back storytelling vocals fitting in so
well. Just when you think it can't get any better, you get a choir
and some keyboards thrown in as well which becomes the soul of the whole
song, making it a moving 5 minutes and 50 seconds of pure class.
There has to be a slower song somewhere and the final song on this CD
"Always" does the trick for all the fans of cigarette lighters! The
atmosphere start sends you away somewhere else after all the previous
rockier tracks, keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars in unison
throughout with the softest vocals yet, then it builds up to an almost Bon
Jovi type of song before yet another top guitar solo returns it to the
keyboards and faded-out singing, bringing the CD to an end.
There has been a lot written about The Answer over the last few months
with all the praises well deserved, so all I can add in my own way is that
this album for me hasn't a weak track on it and can hold it's own as a
classic amongst the greats in years to come.
*A big thanks goes out
to our special guest reviewer Bob Baldwin for this review. |
