Label: Mascot Records
Review by Martien Koolen
Black Stone Cherry is of course an American hard rock band founded in Edmonton, Kentucky in 2001. The band consists of Chris Robertson (lead vocals andd guitar), Ben Wells (rhythm guitar), Jon Lawhon (bass guitar) and John Fred Young (drums). Kentucky is their fifth album and it is the first one to be released by Mascot Records; the previous albums were released by Roadrunner. BSC have charted eight singles on the USA Mainstream Rock Track Charts and their new album is to be released on 1 April.
You might already be familiar with the first single of the album The Way Of The Future, which was released on 18 December of last year. The new songs on Kentucky are all back to the basic roots of the band, which means: aggressive,heavy up tempo rock with southern influences. The beforementioned first single is a perfect example of what BSC's music is about as it is rock and roll,southern, hard, dirty, grungy, melodic and even catchy. The second single of the album In Our Dreams, co-written by Bob Marlette (ALice Cooper) is one of my favourite tracks, as it really rocks like hell, featuring heavy washed-out guitar hooks and riffs and some extreme bonecrunching percussion.
Soul Machine is the other absolute highlight of this amazing album and that one really is a sheer brilliant guitar monster track with a couple of typical soul influences. Hangman and Shakin' My Cage are rather heavy and dark and even have some distinctive grunge characteristics. The best title of a BSC song goes to Cheaper To Drink Alone, which is an up tempo rock song in the veins of Guns N' Roses.. In fact all the songs are just excellent, but unfortunately Black Stone Cherry ends with a song called The Rambler, a country & western like acoustic song which i cannot really appreciate; furthermore I would also have left out the cover of Edwin Starr's classic song War, but hey, there is no account for taste. Too bad, as without The Rambler and War I would have rated Kentucky with 5 R's, but it is definitely already one of my favourite albums of 2016. Check this band out, they are really cool!!
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