MUSIC: THE LOCKHEARTS – Americana Doom Fuzz

Shane | 18 May 2018 | Reply

MUSIC: THE LOCKHEARTS – Americana Doom Fuzz
Golden Robot Records
April 2018
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9.5/10

Don’t let the name fool ya: there is some heavy guitar here, but no ‘doom’ per se. The ‘Americana’ part of the title is the key – this album is far more Black Crowes than Black Sabbath!

Want some more comparisons? Think Blues Pills, Blackberry Smoke, acoustic ‘70s Aerosmith, and you need a better record collection if you don’t hear influences from The Beatles, The Stones, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, You Am I and Weddings Parties Anything. What they sound like most – astonishingly for a debut album – is this little band from Sydney called The Lockhearts.

There’s not a dud here – but there are some standouts. Call For Help is great, heartfelt and a blueprint for their sound. London Bound is the sort of storytelling song that Paul Kelly and Mick Thomas and Tim Rogers excel at. If I Was Your Man sounds like it was recorded, first take, as it was written around a raging fire. harmonica-drenched and featuring a fine guitar solo, I mean that in a legendary sense, not a negative one – even though they already sound more American than Aussie.

Goddamn Pretty is the sort of song bands used to play on outdoor stadiums to thousands of people, Ride Home rams home the Black Crowes vibe, and closer Xanax – possibly if it were retitled – is the smash FM radio party hit that never will be through no fault of theirs. It’s bouncy, catchy, sugarysweet megaparty rock, and it’s chorus of “just wanna stay in bed today” would have been sung around the world in the late ‘80s if only they’d had the good sense to be born a few decades earlier. You, however, should get on it NOW.

I’m not saying Americana Doom Fuzz is the Aussie album of the year (yet), but I am saying it’s one of the best debuts from anyone, anywhere, you will hear in a long while.