Rival Sons – Great Western Valkyrie

1. Electric Man: (Take You To The Sugar Shack)
2. Good Luck: (It’s Going To Hurt Right Now)
3. Secret: (Just Bring Me A Jar Full Of Shine)
4. Play The Fool: (The Way That Girls Talk)
5. Good Things: (Boy With A Bomb In His Jacket)
6. Open My Eyes: (Folding Like A Jack Knife)
7. Rich And The Poor: (Her Teeth Bound By Braces)
8. Belle Starr: (The Gem Inside Sparkles Yet)
9. Where I’ve Been: (The Habit Wasn’t Cheap)
10. Destination On Course: (Slipped From The Rail)
“Let me just start by saying new album “” is the best thing I have heard in years! Well, now that is sorted out, you know you can expect nothing but superlatives in the remainder of this review. But holy shit, who would have thought would equal, let alone surpass the also great album “Head Down”. The riffs are fantastic rock ‘n’ roll combined with slides for blues feeling; singer Jay gets more out of his voice, and he now has an even wider range and goes seemingly easy from high to low with sensitive outbreaks here and there. The four-piece makes a lot of use of a keyboard for this album. In the past they did that before, but on “” they took it a few steps further, partly because Ikey Owens (The Mars Volta, Jack White) dropped in regularly. However, the most important element on the album is drummer Michael Miley or just Miley as the other band members call him. We talked with Miley just before bassist Robin Everhart left the band. That departure and the replacement of Robin with Dave Best (Maroon 5, Rocco Deluca) has had a great impact on Miley. His drumming is powerful, varied and has a lot of hooks. Who saw him play in Nijmegen can see that he enjoys the renewed rhythm section. The songs are of high quality, obviously. The variation in the music reflects the variation in the lyrics. For example, “Electric Man” and “Rich And The Poor” are sexually charged songs, “Good Things” deals with the difficult moments in life, while “Good Luck” deals with a broken relationship. On “Destination On Course” Scott can go all the way again with his psychedelic guitar playing like on “Manifest Destiny” from “Head Down”, while on “Belle Starr” Miley’s brilliant drumming is best heard. “Where I’ve Been” is a sensitive ballad about a girl who think she does not deserve to receive love, due to her dark past. Powerful single “Open My Eyes” is about insecurities, although there is no trace of insecurity to be seen in this band, which goes through great lengths to deliver a great album. Furthermore, in the interview we had with Jay and Scott recently, they told they are becoming more confident in what they do. And let us face it, what they do, they do damn well! I really cannot emphasize enough how incredibly good this album is. And even though we do not suffer from the limited space you have in paper magazines, I will stop now to explain why the album is so great. So if you have not heard it yet; GO LISTEN TO IT RIGHT NOW!”
Lords Of Metal, Marcel op ‘t Landt
2LP album
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