Black Stone Cherry: Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea (Roadrunner)
Black Stone Cherry came about in 2006 with their debut album, hitting the scene like a modern take on the classic southern masters such as Molly Hatchet and Skynyrd, with their last album they expanded their sound making it more FM radio friendly, that continues on this album with the production of Howard Benson (Daughtry, Theory of A Deadman, Kelly Clarkson) bringing a commercial sheen to their southern hard rock sound. The vocals of Chris Robertson are as usual fantastic and very powerful with the rest of the band playing at the top of their game. What is evident on this album is that their song writing has improved with many tracks viable for hit single status Blame It On The Boom Boom and Let Me See You Shake being two notable examples, among the tracks are a few lighter waving ballads and some dirty rockers some with lyrics coming straight out of the 1980's Sunset Strip. BTDATDBS is an accomplished modern rock album with a great southern spirit. Definitely an album to play loud! 9/10
Alestorm: Back Through Time (Napalm)
Pirate Metal was sure to have gone the way of Nu-Metal but with Alestorm we see it continuing as if nothing has happened. With this third album they vary the theme focussing on historical figures as well as the well-worn themes of Pillaging and drinking, they even go as far as covering the Wurzels classic I'm A Cider Drinker. The key to Alestorm's survival has been their ability to mix up tempo folk metal with a tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation, ballad like Scraping The Barrel shows that Alestorm don't take themselves or their critical reception too seriously. All in all this is a great album to listen to when partying with your hearties (sorry) but definitely not a treasure trove. 7/10
Revoker: Revenge For The Ruthless (Roadrunner)
Imagine if you will Bullet For My Valentine took Roadrunner's offer to sign in 2007 instead of signing with Sony BMG you would get an album that would sound like Revoker's debut. Hailing from South Wales Revoker have many similarities with their Welsh breatherin in both musicality and vocally (Especially on the lead single Stay Down). Jamie Mathias' voice is pitched somewhere between Matt Tuck and Machine Head's Robb Flynn. this also goes someway to telling you what Revoker sound like, they have a mix of melodic gang choruses and MH style modern thrash. Revoker are talented musicians (I can personally vouch for their live prowess) however like with many of the label mates they share a similar sound that is not really breaking any boundaries. This being the case the album is good but not good enough to be genre defining ...yet. 7/10
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