By DJ Monk
It’s so easy for things to get lost in the system, and often they do. This particular offering – the debut full length album from North Carolina crüe Pröwess (yes, despite the umlauts, this quintet of rock ‘n’ rollers hail, not from the banks of the Rhine but the deep south of the USofA) – has lain around ÜRHQ for a little more than a month now, before finding it’s way onto the playlist one bright and sunny morning… and you know we just love the small of rock ‘n’ roll in the morning.
‘Blacktop Therapy’ is an album steeped in all of the classic rock traditions, from the opening thump and DC-esque groove of the opening title track through the stomping lewdness of ‘Eyes Of The Hunter’ to the suvern drawl of ‘Tombstone Blue’ via the good-time party rock of ‘Every Right’ and ‘Heart’s Desire’ to the suitably debauched and rowdy closer, ‘All Downhill’.
Lead single ‘Lookin’ For A Bullet’ summarizes the overall feel and tone of the album: the twin guitars of Scott Roby and Curly Staples punching out the riff before winding around each other like a pair of mating cobras, the rock solid rhythms of Kenny Mange and Brandon Chinn holding down the bottom end without any ceremony, while Dalton Bowes curls and snarls his whiskey-soaked vocal over the top with a laconic effectiveness, the lyrics short and snappy and all the more effective for this:
As I said, this is an album steeped in all the classic rock traditions, and in a way that ticks all the right boxes with a firm authority. Alright, it offers nothing new in its sound – we’ve heard it hundreds of times before and will hear it hundreds more – and doesn’t fuck with the tried and tested rock ‘n’ roll formulae, just concentrating on providing the sort of heads down, see at the end boogie that, if they were playing down your local pub of a Friday night would have you tapping your feet and the dance floor filled with sweaty, grooving bodies. And that’s not a bad measure of success now, is it?
- ‘Blacktop Therapy’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.