Label: HeadFirst 2015
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
"Some people think heaven is in Hollywood. Some people think hell is under their shoes. Some folks believe, what they believe and you can't tell 'em nothing. But you gotta believe in something". Lyrically, the Magic Lightning' Boys album deals a lot with the emotional roller coaster ride that singer Casey Gomez' family dealt with after losing his wife in cancer. Opening track, Mind Funk, originates from a lengthy discussion Casey had with his son about all this and religion, and they agreed that you gotta believe in something. Well... that's quite the mood setter... I'm not quite sure what to type from this point on?
Tracks such as Sucker Punch, Broken Dream, Gone, deals with more of the same as I'm sure you tell from the song titles. It's the anger, the struggle, the emptiness, and just the heavy subject matter indeed. Musically, the U.S. quartet consisting of Gomez (vocals), Brian Tarter (guitars), Richie Lee (bass), Kurt Lipphardt (drums), are taking their cue from the likes of The Allman Brothers, CCR, Govt. Mule. Throw in the odd Pearl Jam groove and you're pretty close to the core of the band.
So, having set the scene with a dark agenda and groovy tunes, do they deliver on record? According to yours truly, the songs are sort of steeped in the tradition of Govt. Mule and that's just like saying it's difficult to pinpoint. They get off to a storming start, impressing with genuine raw emotion and groovy swamp southern rock. But the last few numbers on this seven track album fail to deliver and I'm not too keen on the Stones Thrown. Perhaps they're being a might too similar to something we've heard before, but there's no denying the spark in the dark created by The Magic Lightin' Boys. Have a go at this if you're into the swamp groove.
www.magiclightinboys.com
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