Dirty Honey - Dirty Honey (Self Released)
You may have noticed that we haven't reviewed the Greta Van Fleet album in these pages. Despite being wowed by their first record and EP, since then they have become a little too corporate for me, they're music is deliberately aimed at appealing to a certain generation, for their nostalgia cash. Yeah I know that many other bands play on that retro thing but it seems those teenagers are the fresh faced boys are the frontmen for a massive corporate cash machine. That brings us onto Dirty Honey and their self titled full length following on from their self titled EP.
This four piece come from Los Angeles, California and are inspired by the success of Guns N Roses, they brought the band together with Mark DiDia formerly of Columbia records as their manager, after numerous side walk and shit hole shows. Yes they have managed to support Slash and Guns N Roses, but there seems to be a soul in this band that I don't feel in Greta Van Fleet a band who Dirty Honey have many musical similarities to. Now there's a lot of G'N'R mentioned earlier but when John Notto peels of soulful solos on tracks like Gypsy there's a focused loucheness of Slash.
Personally I'd put Dirty Honey, who take their name from Robert Plant's The Honeydrippers, in with a band like the sorely missed Temperance Movement, some whiskey-hued vocals and sunshine drenched riffs are all the rage on numbers like California Dreamin', the funky The Morning, while The Wire struts and Take My Hand adds a pinch of Zep. Dirty Honey are a soulful hard rock combo, that do have the big machine behind them but also a sense of realness to their music. 7/10
Desolate Realm - Desolate Realm (Self Released)
Helsinki duo Matias Nastolin (Guitars, Vocals, Bass) and Olli Törrönen (Drums) make up Desolate Realm. If I were to quickly tell you what they sound like, cast your mind back to when Grand Magus unleashed Iron Will, this signaled the shift from doom metal heaviness into the more traditional metal sound they have now. Desolate Realm is an album that neatly balances both well, with the classic galloping of The Chosen are counterpointed by doomier numbers like the 8 minute finale Tormented Soul. It's got touches of Candlemass, Atlantean Kodex and even Manowar, shifting into epic realms on that last track.
Where Desolate Realm's music works well when they put both styles into one song like they do on Reckoning where they start out with chugging classic metal and the doom influence creeps in from the deep, one moving into the other seamlessly. Recorded by both members separately, there's a cohesion between the two that makes for a powerful release. Matias' guitar and bass playing both work well, crunching heavy riffs linking well with Olli's thumping drums. What really makes me think of Grand Magus is Matias' brilliant vocals, a sonorous tenor that soars when needed. Desolate Realm is a very strong heavy metal record from this Finnish duo. 8/10
Backwood Spirit - Fresh From The Can (Pride & Joy Music)
Fresh From The Can is the second album from blues/southern rockers Backwood Spirit, unusually they don't actually come from the Southern states of the USA, the hail from Örebro, Sweden. Yes Sweden that country with more rock/metal bands per capita than any other in the world. Backwood Spirit added their name to that long list back in 2014 when guitarist Kent Engström put the band together bringing in Joje Lindskoog (drums) and singer Göran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen), along with Peter Emilson on organs/keys.
All these men return on this second record with Mats Berglund on bass, but as Zep put it 'the song remains the same' with a huge amount of Zeppelin influences on this record drenched in the blues, Sweet Evening (Lullaby) is very much from the laid back style of Plant & Page though Celebration (not a Zep cover) takes more from The Beatles. However where I would pitch this album is with Paul Rodgers' Free/Bad Company days due to the music and Edman's soulful vocals. Strutting rockers like Witchwood and Leavin both have this style and are delivered really well. As with any Swedish band there's a sleekness and professionalism that is hard to replicate, making for a great classic blues rock record. Perfect for some outside hospitality. 7/10
1968 - Salvation If You Need (No Profit Recordings)
Cheshire foursome 1968 wear their influences not only on their sleeve but also their band name. 1968 was an undoubtedly great year for rock music. It's the year that saw Vincebus Eruptum/Outsideinside by Blue Cheer, Boogie With Canned Heat/Living The Blues by Canned Heat, Steppenwolf/The Second by Steppenwolf, The Beat Goes On by Vanilla Fudge, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly, Wheels Of Fire by Cream and Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, all released. I mention this as all these records are definite influences to the stoner rockers now on their second full length. Salvation If You Need contains 10 tracks, from the propulsive, jiving Rail Road Boogie to the soaring, blues drenched God Bless, this is a homage to the golden age/beginning of stoner/psych rock, played live in the studio with vintage equipment (no doubt). Grooving dirty riffs from a bygone age. 1968 are big riffing band with and album that they'll hopefully get to unleash on some stages soon. 7/10
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