By David O’Neill
I have been a fan of Black Stone Cherry since ‘Between the Devil And The Deep Blue Sea’. With many album and gig reviews written about the band for Über Rock since that time I was like a dog with two dicks and a bellyful of piss in a street full of lampposts when I got to see them at Steelhouse Festival this year. With new music on the horizon, I knew that Monk (editor) would have my card marked for this album.
So, what can you say? For a start, the two singles from the alum this far have been absolute belters…
Opener and title track ‘Screamin’ At The Sky’ has been well crafted and lyrically expresses the feelings of everyone post pandemic. Ripping up with a huge riff and thunderous bass and drums, the line “we’ve had enough of this shit, we all need some healing” says it all. The guitar riff at the breakdown is a corker but then so is the rest of the instrumentation, whilst lyrically and vocally it is typical of the BSC groove it has a much heavier vibe akin to the first album.
‘Nervous’ is much more like the older BSC stuff, softer opening and much lower volume on the background allowing Chris’s vocals to sit on top of the track, but the typical bass/drum/guitar riffage is unmistakably going to be liked by the Cherryheads. I’m sure this is quickly going to establish itself on the live set.
The guys switch things to a heavier opening on ‘When The Pain Comes’ and this drives the sections between verses, but the lyrics continue to sit on top of the whole song. Even though John Fred is a beast on all the drumming this far it remains subtly mixed so as not to overwhelm the vocals… but then the outro lets the instruments rip to the end.
‘Out Of Pocket’ was the second release from the album and is another typical BSC crafted song, gentle volume on the backing track allowing the vocals the air they need, then thunderous volume on the chorus and outro that supports the emotional anger in the lyrics.
Rattling drums and guitar riffs open ‘Show Me what it feels like, which is verging on a love song, but not in the sloppy soppy type of love song, its quite breathless in its speed.
Another typical BSC opening riff starts off ‘Raindrops On A Rose’; lyrically it sounds like a song written to express loss or grief, but musically it is much heavier than you’d ought to expect of the lyrics. Still, its another great song. Booming bass lines open ‘Smile, World’, a bit of a wah-wah accompanied riff drives the majority of the choruses, but the drums and bass are the main drivers on this until the huge solo at the breakdown. I can see this one getting onto the set list soon too.
‘The Mess You Made’ has more BSC about it with the opening riff/drum/bass lines very similar to the tracks on the first album, much heavier groove than some of the other tracks on the album. ‘Who Are You’ is much more BSC than many of the other tracks with some very staccato choppy guitar playing in parts.
‘Not Afraid’ definitely reminds me of early BSC however, the drums and bass are much more prominent throughout the track than many of the earlier ones on the album. ‘Here’s To The Hopeless’ is probably the closest to a ballad on the album and sounds like an expression of time spent in a relationship frequently punctuated by absences. The final track, ‘You Can Have It All’ is again another song with serious BSC DNA in its construction.
So how is the album overall? Well, as a fan I was always going to love it. As a writer, I absolutely loved it! Will the fans like it? In the words of the guys, “the leap of faith is bigger than the fall”. Hell yeah!
Where would I put this in their collection? Not the best, but certainly up there. As for what is the best, that’s an opinion, and like noses everyone has one, so like my nose, I’ll keep that to myself.
- ‘Screamin’ At The Sky‘ is released on Friday.
Black Stone Cherry also kick off their latest run of dates in Belfast tonight (Tuesday 26 September), continuing in Dublin tomorrow (Wednesday) and then continuing as follows:
- Friday (29 September) – London, Islington Assembly Hall
- Saturday (30 September) – Sheffield, Corporation
- Monday 2 October – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
- Tuesday 3 October – Manchester, Rebellion
- Thursday 5 October – Bristol, Fleece
- Friday 6 October – Glasgow, St Lukes
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