Duel is a band from Austin, Texas, USA. Influenced by the gloomier cultural outlets of the sixties and seventies, this quartet comes up with vintage blues and hard rock which seems to come directly from that awesome era. Now, I have to admit that the 'blues' tag only appeared on 'Fell To Earth'. The three songs before, highlighting in opener 'Fears Of The Dead', are immersive hard rock anthems, a bit like Uncle Acid and Kadavar makes them.
'On The Edge' is another highly immersive rocker, one that certainly has the power to set an audience on fire. This is catchy rock with almost heroic vocals and flashing guitar solos, often reminding me of bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Hell, even ZZ Top comes to mind, maybe because of the nicely grinding guitar sound. Yet, my favorite remains the title track, with psychedelic closer 'Locked Outside' in second place.
In all, this album perfectly fits in with today's retro-rock craze and certainly deserving of your attention if you're into this stuff. I know I am and I really dig this album. I hope that Duel will come over to Europe and play a few festivals here, namely the Up In Smoke and Desertfest events. They would be a solid addition to the line-up and possibly one of the most convincing acts on stage. So, my fellow ancient rockers, get this album now. You know you want it...
Serge