It takes just a solitary second for Stories Of Strange Women to get the listener infused as we are immediately greeted with a blast of bloody superb vocals, and that fire remains constant throughout the rest of the track, topped by a rad chorus and great lyrics celebrating cool feminine icons who broke the boundaries and didn’t care for the negative backlash that came with it. Slick basslines and drumming make up the infectiously grooving rhythm of Magic At Our Fingertips that has your body shifting along, and there’s some poignant words about how fertile our planet is and how we all have the duty to preserve it because, you know, it’s our home and that.
It’s difficult to resist banging your head along to the rugged and edgy Blackmoss, which covers being caught in a seemingly never-ending spiral of negativity and anguish and that longing to finally breaking out of it, and it comes to a head with a short but cracking guitar solo. Solace is handily the most chilled of the lot, sonically taking it easy but still with bursts of oomph and power, mainly through the once again awesome singing, swelling beats and solid riffs.
The Northern blues-rock group have been gaining plenty of momentum in recent months, and rightfully so, given that their material is just flat out entertaining while also effectively focusing on important themes as they go. A great effort from a great band who are on the road to even greater things.
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