Shane’s Music Challenge: RIVAL SONS – 2011 – Pressure & Time

Shane | 28 March 2014 | Reply

Shane’s Music Challenge: RIVAL SONS – 2011 – Pressure & Time
8/10

My job here is made pretty easy when I find an album I listened to since late 2009, which I previously reviewed – provided time hasn’t changed my opinion, that is! So, from 2011, my original review:
Some bands just pop out of the speakers fully formed and RIVAL SONS is one such freak of nature. They rock, they roll, they groove and they have soul – and what more can anyone ask of a band of rock brothers in this jaded day and age, anyway?

There’s not a lot new, necessarily, about Rival Sons though – theirs is a decidedly retro palette of sound – except perhaps how they have craftily combined their Sixties and Seventies influences into this beguiling and enticing analogue stew.

Led Zeppelin might be the primary influence here – just listen to Only One for proof how closely they’ve followed the blueprint – but elements of early Deep Purple, Black Crowes and Cream swirl through the mix here and there, as do some Motown and Stax soul grooves on Get Mine. There’s even a few glam stompers a la T-Rex or early Suzi Quatro (Burn Down Los Angeles, for one) – albeit with their Zep-heavy fingerprints all over them.

The sound throughout embraces the listener in its warmth – in exactly the same way those early Zep records did. There’s a decidedly revivalist feel to Save Me that isn’t a million miles removed from Ireland’s The Answer’s recent excursions into similar (though not as directly referencing of past masters) territory, and White Noise and Face of Light actually sounds more like Wolfmother channelling Jeff Beck or Led Zeppelin rather than Zep themselves.

Saving some of the best for last, Soul is an absolute scorcher of soulful blues, and Sleepwalker a slice of Steppenwolf-ish heavy blues – singer Jay Buchanan emoting for all he’s worth, and a plaintiff harmonica piercing the grind on the latter tune. Pressure & Time is a classy album with a lot to offer the classic rock fan – retro it may be, but whoever said retro can’t be awesome, or huge for that matter?
All I really have to add is that it sure goes down well on a warm Autumn evening with a glass of red wine!

Shane Pinnegar