Providing some blues rock liquor to re-invigorate sometimes complacent ears, Scottish trio The Howling Lords signed off November with the release of Texas Medicine. The band’s second album, it provides a captivating rumble and grumble of dirty blues bred tracks which plenty of blues and heavy rock fans should find an instinctive taste for.
Hailing from Isle of Lewis, The Howling Lords emerged late 2015 and within a handful of months lured keen ears with debut single Bad For Me. Just as eager attention and praise followed with a busy 2017 seeing the release of their self-titled debut album and the Dead Letters EP, the latter seeing the band’s sound further defined in craft and individuality which Texas Medicine now fully embraces.
From the first tease of opener Looking At Me, the album is a boozy tantalising of ears mixing the familiar with the band’s own fresh invention. The first track writhes with the intoxicated swings of a temptress, the guitar of vocalist Felix Saunders shaping its melodic inebriation as the heavy rhythmic stroll of bassist Jens Johansen shares its swagger to the crisp beats of Eoghainn Lapsley.
It is a potent start swiftly matched and indeed eclipsed by the contagious prowl of Black Dog. For two and a half minutes it as good as stalks the listener but with an invitation to its welcoming lair in every groove, vocal tempting, and rhythmic incitement.
As tracks reveal their individual prowess with garage/blues rock nurtured sounds there is no escaping thoughts of bands such as The Black Keys, Black Pistol Fire and indeed a heavily set Creedence Clearwater Revival; flavours which entice as much as The Howling Lords own raw and dirt encrusted breeding. That feral aspect is a prime essence of the excellent Moves To Keep Me, a punk blues roar which swiftly got under the skin.
Through the likes of the calmer whisky blooded Talk Like That and Green Dress with its rock ‘n’ roll ruggedness, band and album only tightened their hold on attention while subsequent tracks such as the sonically baying Howling At the Moon and the salacious She Devil brought further shots of temptation the way of ears and enjoyment.
For us it is fair to say that Texas Medicine needed a few plays for tracks to truly expose their richness and emerging individuality but more because of our less instinctive appetite for blues rock compared to other genres but with every listen came fresh pleasure as the final trio of Still Waters, Soul To Sell, and God On The Stairs proved. All three made for a firmly enticing proposition but grew by the listen, the first through its almost invasive weight and incisive grooving and its successor with melodic flames which erupt from a perpetual white hot smoulder to singe the senses.
The final track of the free is a melody bred ballad revealing another hue to the band’s creativity and sound; a track epitomising the magnetic touch of the band’s music. It completes an album which from a good impression has blossomed into one highly enjoyable and easy to return to offering.
Texas Medicine is out via all platforms on 30th November.
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Pete RingMaster 30/11/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Pugnale’s guitar craft and enterprise is another potent feature and provides even more attention grabbing enticement within next up Road To Hell, his grooves wrapping round ears with infectious intent as the rhythms of Inserillo and Cola rap and throb with flirtatious aggression. Growing into a definite best track contender it is swiftly rivalled by the blues rock lined strum of Memories; a track with a whiff of stoner rock and grunge to its relatively calm but increasingly tempestuous climate
It is a great start to the EP quickly backed and eclipsed by In Your Eyes. Straight away spicy hooks are cast around ears, arousing a greedy appetite as they continue to nag and seduce as vocals and rhythms collude. A stoner-esque hue adds to the song’s magnetic character and holler, the swinging beats of Todd Hatchett inciting further captivation in league with the similarly alluring dark breath of Chris Ivey’s bass. Emerging as our favourite of the four through its rapacious grooving alone, the track highlights all the essences which are beginning to draw richer attention upon the band.
As suggested earlier, there is an eclectic character to the album no better epitomised than by the following Something Beautiful. A cover of the Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews track it is a glorious slice of pop shaped rock which just radiates temptation from the magnetic vocals to the uncomplicated but flirtatious tease of guitar and the understated but potent moody hues of the bass. It is a superb rival to its predecessors for best album song and in turn matched by another cover in Wall’s version of Sam Cooke’s Change Is Gonna Come; itself a firmly captivating take on a great song with the strings of Jonas Petersen an added pleasure.
With his equally well-received single of February, You Ain’t The Girl, the trio of tracks this year to date revealed a great broad and imaginative canvas to Antoniou’s sound which Rag Doll stretches just a little more. The track has a tasty line in dark blues rock in its virulently infectious swing, a teasing almost sinister texture infesting the delicious groove and rapaciously tenacious character of the song.
The album opens with the outstanding Promised Land and instantly hooks ears with its initial lure of sultry guitar and vocal expression. Frontman Rusty Clark has a voice which commands attention, a musical orator you just want to listen to and backed by just as compelling sound throughout song and release. The smouldering brooding of the song is transfixing, only escalating its lure as resonating beats and the first of a tide of irresistible basslines across Darkness Is My Home breaks. Igniting into a robust stroll with a searing groove, the track is pure captivation and increasingly so as it repeats its cycle with greater lust and vigour. Rock ‘n’ roll does not come much better as this imposingly infectious and skilfully manipulative encounter though it is undoubtedly matched throughout the album.
