rock / blues

I have to admit, this album has been sitting on top of my pile of albums to review for quite some time now. I guess I just didn't know what to make of it or what to expect from the music. Judging from the cover, I think I was expecting something in the line of Misfits or psychobilly music, something for gothic bikers.

Today, I finally decided to throw the album into my CD player. Meanwhile, I committed to the usual background checks and research, which made the confusion only bigger. Now I was expecting a lo-fi dark folk rock act or something. It was about time to play the damn thing.

Stone Of A Bitch is Ludwig and Alice. According to the biography they met at a festival in France where she was performing and he was a crewmember. Armed with guitars, bass and vocals, they started they own project, aided by electronic percussion and drums. What they do with that equipment pleasantly surprised me. This album is loaded with alternative rock and blues songs, here and there nudging towards post punk or grunge.

I found it hard to compare Stone Of A Bitch to other bands. On 'It's A War', I'd mention alternative rock bands but 'Carribean Drive' then suddenly drags itself into the world of gloomy blues. 'Wolves' opens as a trip hop tune but gradually turns into something Radiohead would be jealous of. 'Cold Blood Tear' brings Weezer to mind. Even Vive La Fete came to mind, even though Stone Of A Bitch rocks more than they dance, which is a good thing I think.

Yet, what strikes me the most about this album is the sheer quality of the whole thing. This is definitely not a lo-fi duo throwing some jams on a disc and hoping to become famous. No, this is a massive talented band with two members who know a great deal about songwriting. Furthermore, the album is executed to perfection with great songs. Songs that will make you want to shake your hips. I'd say do it. Check it out. This is absolutely recommend music for all rockers out there.


​Serge

hard rock

Back to France and back to guitars. In fact, "back" seems to be an excellent word to start this review. This is a neat throwback into some of the golden eras of rock 'n roll music. It blends the heavy blues of the seventies with the glam of the eighties and the roughness of the nineties. 

The band was formed in Montpellier, apparently inspired by everything between Whitesnake, ZZ Top, Motley Crue, Guns 'n Roses, The Scorpions, Deep Purple and Kiss. With all those names, obviously one question remains: how does HighWay cope with all these influences?

Well, from the very first tones of opener 'Brotherhood', the answer to that question is "excellent". What a stomper this song is. It immediately sets the tone for the entire album. With heavy rock, catchy chorus and flashing guitar solos, HighWay embody the definition of "good old fashioned rock music". The other songs follow that example. "Pole Dancing Song" breathes a southern atmosphere, Coyote Ugly kind of stuff, but with better music. "Wake Up" is somewhat slower but still a more than decent blues rock tune. Guest vocalist here is Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Talisman, Journey ...). 

From then on, the band constantly balances on the edges between blues and vintage hard rock. Besides, they perform it with great precision. These guys can handle their instruments, that's for sure. Furthermore, Benjamin Folch is an excellent vocalist. He can carry the blues just as easily as the rough edge of rock music. In 'Boogie Wave' he suddenly reminded me of Midnight Oil and shortly after I heard a James Hetfield comparison. But before you think HighWay is just another hard rock clone, these French dudes certainly mastered their trade.

I also like the backing vocals. Very often, the bassist and guitarist take their place behind a microphone. The result is great and adds a lot to the power and epic atmosphere of the whole thing. Yes, epic, this music sounds like it belongs on massive stages and in huge arenas. Songs like 'Psycho Lover' and 'Say Your Prayers' can easily set festivals on fire. The album closes with two nice surprises, the very odd sounding 'Chemical Trip' and the blues rocker 'Separate Ways'. So yes, great album but now I'm hungry to see this live...


​Serge

psychedelic / blues / rock

Released on August 25, Renegades is the most recent album by American blues rock group Porno Wolves, from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Almost forty seven minutes long, the album has ten tracks: In the Garden, Winter's Night, Riddles in the Dark, Bad Man, Renegades, Young Moon Rising, Swamp Stomp, Sierra Negra, The Road Goes Ever On and Gasoline. A very traditional blues rock album, certainly Renegades can be qualified as a very interesting work. With strong melodies, a relatively original approach to the genre and a peculiar sonorous style that draws an expressive and cohesive thin line between antagonistically rude, but seemingly precious rock’n’roll, and a more pop flavored, distinct and graceful rhythmic outlook – that reminded me acts as disparate as The Strokes, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Porno Wolves has a consistent, but versatile organic flow, emotional and sincere on the surface, but artistically dilapidated and profusely elemental, in the shapeless bottom of its deep vastness. 

With arranged and beautiful harmonies, that give rise to wonderfully captivating saxophone introspections, as well as splendorous and insurgent guitar solos, Porno Wolves really has made a curious, elegant and sophisticated album. With soul and meaning, their art is full of abrasive and delicate nuances, that exhibit passionate melodies, able to achieve the high standards they obviously imposed over them. With an obvious attention to technical detail, they also excel in the aspect of a clean and distinct sound, that masterfully perfected the marvelous definition of their music.    

Despite a great collection of overwhelming qualities, the album gets far from being qualified as a masterpiece. With a sound that sometimes sounds vague, with excessively similar and uniform passages, their creative capacities sometimes appears to be stagnant in a formulaic zone of musical process. 

Nevertheless, Renegades is definitely a good album, and Porno Wolves is a group that has originality. With potential, formidable writing skills, and a pungent musical style, they remember a little wild, decadent, melancholic, but brave midnight pubs and nightclub bands, that you don’t expect too much when you see them onstage, until they started to play. Then, you see things differently. 


Wagner

psychedelic blues

Maro is an album by Hungarian psychedelic blues group Lemurian Folk Songs, released in June 14. Almost thirty six minutes long, the record has only six tracks: La Caleta, Temple of the Moon, Grand Sanctuary, Messianic Atrium, Melusina and Magister Blues. A very interesting album, that has on the verge of its dynamic, yet elusive rhythmic dissonances vibrating tonalities of discreet visibility, Maro departs from the traditional devices of the genre, to engrave its melodies with the refined, but silent versatility that gives to the work the typical psychedelic shape of melancholic sonorous grievances, that repels with the mordacious outline of its slow harmonies the softness of a style that never becomes pale on the surface of its own qualities. 

With intriguing – and especially pleasant – female vocals, despite the fact that Maro is a reasonable album, there is not too much of a novelty here. They display their music with a somewhat decent degree of creativity, as well as sufficient skills of technical competence. Nonetheless, this album closely follows the ordinary standards of the genre, presenting to their audience a refined, but otherwise predictable work, that doesn’t differ too much from other similar acts. 

Don’t get me wrong. In my evaluation, Maro is a good album, and everyone who is pleased with the genre – which is too slow, for the most part – would agree with me. If you are not into this type of music, which is primarily tranquil, peaceful, experimental, transcendental and minimalist, you will become exceptionally bored. As for the band, Lemurian Folk Songs is a very competent, skilled and decent group, that execute their songs wisely and precisely, and known how to be faithful to their genre of choice.  

Unfortunately, like I’ve pointed out above, there is not too much of an innovative sonorous texture here. Of course, maybe they aren’t into innovation at all, they just want to create songs in their genre of choice, and then play. But, regardless of their objectives, I think that each and every band in virtually all musical genres should – and want – to give their signature into the musical scene, doesn’t matter if they are inserted in a mainstream or underground scenario.

Nevertheless, despite their qualities, there is not too much to say about Maro, or Lemurian Folk Songs, except for the fact that here you have, indeed, a good album, created by a very good band. But there isn’t anything beyond that, although I sincerely think they have potential to achieve more significant results in future albums.    


Wagner

alternative / grunge / rock / blues

Somewhere in the early days of Merchants Of Air, I reviewed 'Extended Play' by French alternative rockers Poste 942. I remember calling it a decent rock/hard rock album and that these guys are excellent songwriters who needed a bit more experience.

Well, here is 'Long Play', an awesome alternative rock album that effortlessly combines Black Crowes with AC/DC and Pearl Jam with Nirvana. So yes, it seems like these youngsters have listened to what I had to say in my previous review. I couldn't be happier about the result.

Poste 942 plays blues driven hard rock, alternative rock and grunge and 'The Color Of Red' is exactly that. I don't think they could have chosen a better song than this one to open the album. It's followed by the bluesy 'Whiskey', a world class song that reeks of AC/DC, especially with the bagpipes solo. You could say 'that has been done before' but just listen. It's bloody awesome. It could get everybody's rocking shoes on.

From the very beginning of this album, I have been impressed by the sheer quality of the music. I hear flashes of Alice In Chains and Led Zeppelin but most of all I hear a well attuned band crafting some amazing rock music. I also hear a highly versatile vocalist who has both the emotion and the raw power this music needs. On 'Punky Booster', they experiment with - you guessed it - punk rock. And that too works perfectly.

I'm not going into a song by song description here but I will say that all of them are excellent and certainly deserve your attention. 'Grace' and 'Lonely Day' rock beautifully while the 'Psycho Love' duo nicely shows the softer side. However, here the Metallica - and mostly James Hetfield's voice - references return, for the first time on this album which obviously means that Poste 942 has become more versatile and mature than on the previous album.

So, to finish: 'Long Play' is a stunner, a great testament and tribute to the beautiful world of rock music. If you love any of the the bands I mentioned in this review, you should get your hands on a copy of this gem. You can't go wrong with Poste 942. I hope I get to see them live soon...


​Serge