Category Archives: Album Review

Album Review : Von Hertzen Brothers – War Is Over

Review by Peter Coates

There seem to be more and more bands out there defying genres and refusing to be pigeon-holed as any one class of rock…..classic, indie, progressive or hardcore….there is a bit of something for all in the latest release from Finnish trio Von Hertzen Brothers, with their 6th album War Is Over released on the Mascot Label Group at the start of November.
Continue reading Album Review : Von Hertzen Brothers – War Is Over

Album Review : Supersonic Blues Machine – Californisoul

Review by Peter Coates

This is the second album release for the blues rock collective that is Supersonic Blues Machine – three great and well-respected musicians at the core of the band in Fabrizio Grossi (Bass), Kenny Aronoff (Drums) and Lance Lopez (Vocals / Guitar), and a bunch of “friends” guesting on the album and at the live shows the band gets to play.
Continue reading Album Review : Supersonic Blues Machine – Californisoul

EP Review : BLACK STONE CHERRY – Black to Blues

Review by Pete Coates

Fresh on the heels of Black Stone Cherry’s recent trips to Australia, first as support to Steel Panther, and then on their first headlining tour of some smaller club venues, the band took some time out to spend two days recording a set of their favourite blues tracks, from the artists who influenced them as they grew up, and whose tracks they jammed to in the various garages they used to rehearse in. Now these are the songs they listen to on the tour bus sharing a bourbon or two!
Continue reading EP Review : BLACK STONE CHERRY – Black to Blues

Album Review : Walter Trout – We’re All In This Together

Review by Peter Coates

One of the old guard of the US Blues battalion, equally respected by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Canned Heat and John Mayall with whom he earned his stripes in the 1970s and 1980s, and the young upstarts of the industry, such as Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe Bonamassa and Eric Gales, Walter Trout has basically gathered together a who’s who of the modern blues family to perform with him and his band in a joyous project that really delivers a fantastic collection of original tracks written by Trout specifically for the guitarist joining him for the track (with a little help from his wife in channelling the different blues styles to the right guest!).
Continue reading Album Review : Walter Trout – We’re All In This Together

Album Review : Simo – ‘Rise & Shine’

Review by Peter Coates

Another Nashville trio who spends more time on the road than in the studio, performing live, writing on the bus and in dressing rooms, with 215 shows in 2016 supporting their debut album, Let Love Show The Way, SIMO are way more than just a vehicle for the ridiculously talented singer / guitarist JD Simo, whose serious blues chops were showcased in the loud and raucous songs on the first album.
Continue reading Album Review : Simo – ‘Rise & Shine’

Album Review : THE DUSTFLOWERS – GET THERE

Review by Peter Coates

Brisbane band The Dustflowers belong somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line in the southern USA, with their first release ‘Get There’ a collection of 5 songs that are gritty hip-swinging blues-rockers with a country twist, or country-rock with some added soul! You can take your pick – whatever style you like, the songs are all class! Recorded on the Gold Coast at Blind Boy Studios, and produced by Brad Hosking, a well-known session player and producer, this EP is a great intro to an Aussie band with stacks of international appeal.
Continue reading Album Review : THE DUSTFLOWERS – GET THERE

Album Review : Sonny Landreth – Recorded Live In Lafayette


Another high quality and interesting release from Provogue / Mascot Label Group which is becoming something of a powerhouse for both established and up and coming blues artists of all persuasions. Clyde Vernon “Sonny” Landreth is a renowned slide guitarist, and “the King of Slydeco”, hailing from the deep south of the USA in Mississippi who has been based in Lafayette for many years . His background includes being part of both John Hiatt’s band and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, as well as featuring on both live and studio recordings with the likes of Marshall Crenshaw, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffett, Little Feat and Mark Knopfler.
Continue reading Album Review : Sonny Landreth – Recorded Live In Lafayette

Album Review : SHAMAN’S HARVEST – Red Hands Black Deeds

Review by Peter Coates

There is a haunting menace to the vocal arrangement in the title track of this latest release from the Jefferson City, Missouri southern country alt-rockers Shaman’s Harvest…….a band I am ashamed to admit had passed me by until this, Red Hands Black Deeds, their 6 th studio album was promised for review.
Continue reading Album Review : SHAMAN’S HARVEST – Red Hands Black Deeds

Album Review : THOMAS WYNN and THE BELIEVERS – WADE WAIST DEEP

Review by Peter Coates
TWB

This album has been something of a challenge to review…….and has required multiple listens over the last couple of weeks to be able to gather my thoughts sufficiently to write the review. This is purely because the album is so complex, stunningly diverse and wonderfully executed, that it cannot easily be pigeon-holed, and the musical influences so widespread that it is hard to know where to start.
Continue reading Album Review : THOMAS WYNN and THE BELIEVERS – WADE WAIST DEEP

Album Review : ERIC GALES – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

Review by Peter Coates
eric-gales-middle-of-the-road

ERIC GALES – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (Mascot Label Group / Provogue)

“Now that’s how you start a riff” is spoken with feeling after the opening bar of Good Time which is a sparkling piece of gospel boogie that would not be out of place in a white clapboard church scene out in the US Midwest, featuring Eric Gales as the guitar-wielding preacher, and a the wailing back-up singing of his wife LaDonna Gales giving her all. There are some almost ridiculous testimonials being made about this guy, from the likes of Joe Bonamassa – “One of the best, if not the best guitar player in the world”; Carlos Santana – “He is absolutely incredible” and Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge – “This guy could be the best player on Earth”. He was hailed as being the next Hendrix when he burst onto the scene in 1991 playing an upside down guitar left-handed.
Continue reading Album Review : ERIC GALES – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

Album Review : Quinn Sullivan – “Midnight Highway”

Review by Peter Coates
sullivan-midnigth
Quinn Sullivan is another young blues guitarist, already classed as a “prodigy” at 17 years old by some fairly credible media (Rolling Stone and The Washington Post), and when Billy Gibbons reckons you have mastered the blues, and Buddy Guy says “Players like Quinn come along once in a lifetime” you get the idea that there could be something special about this guy.
Continue reading Album Review : Quinn Sullivan – “Midnight Highway”

Album Review : THUNDER – ‘Rip It Up’

Review by Peter Coates

thunder
It is sometimes hard to try and set aside the fact that I have been a fan of this band for nearly 35 years and listen to a new record with an objective viewpoint – from club shows as Terraplane, and then the arena support slots when they were the next great hope of British Rock, through to the farewell show in 1999, and the next goodbye in 2009, and the triumphant UK tour in 2015. I haven’t loved everything they’ve released, but I do like most of it! The last album, Wonder Days, was a mighty return to their absolute best, so following that up was always going to be a challenge.
Continue reading Album Review : THUNDER – ‘Rip It Up’

Album Review : AARON KEYLOCK – Cut Against The Grain

Review by Peter Coates
AARON KEYLOCK
From the opening riff of All The Right Moves it appears that the UK has produced another stunning young talent in Aaron Keylock, able to combine the truly British classic 60’s and 70’s blues rock sound of Free and the Clapton, Beck, Page-era guitarists, with a modern American southern rock twist! Hints of early Black Keys or White Stripes in the stripped-down riff and drum lines combine with a greater variety of guitar sounds and raw vocals.
Continue reading Album Review : AARON KEYLOCK – Cut Against The Grain

Album Review : RAGDOLL – “Back To Zero”

Review : Peter Coates
ragdoll

Ragdoll is a three-piece melodic rock band from Perth who has been around for several years, putting out a number of EPs and one full-length collection of remixes and live tracks which received limited exposure in Australia, and even less outside Perth, although they have been regular visitors to the USA touring extensively, and playing the Rocklahoma festival more than once.
Continue reading Album Review : RAGDOLL – “Back To Zero”

Album Review : Black Stone Cherry – ‘Kentucky’

Photos & Review : Peter Coates
blackstonecherrykentuckycd

From the grungy opening chords of The Way of the Future all the way to the heartfelt soulful close of The Rambler, this is an album that wears its heart right on its Southern Frock-coat sleeve. The fifth full-length release from Kentucky born and bred rockers Black Stone Cherry sees them continue to stay loyal to their deep southern roots, while delivering probably their heaviest riffs, and most soulful ballad on the same record.
Continue reading Album Review : Black Stone Cherry – ‘Kentucky’