 
In a world where old school blues rock is long
past its day, a new band emerges attempting to
keep the style alive in a predominantly modern
styled culture. Rival Sons emerged with a self
released debut album back in 2009 and since then
have been on the progressive path to stardom,
with 2010 seeing the release of album number 2
“Pressure & Time” leading to second
stage slot at Download Festival amongst other
accomplishments the band appeared to be on a roll
proving that Blues Rock could still make it in
this modern age. “Head Down” is their
latest effort and has already lead onto some extreme
touring internationally. The fact of the matter
is though they may be experiencing success but
does their music stack up to what’s already
out there or is this moderate success a manner
of there being barely any touring artists around
with the same style?
“Wild Animal” had me unknowingly tapping
my foot and nodding my head, not even consciously
aware that I was doing it, the vocals are very
peaceful and have some soul feel to them, with
the rest of the arrangement holding up a strong
beat, some gritty yet not too heavy guitar tones
with steady riffs and chord sequences. The twangy
effects and groove you find in this material has
the same effect as some of the heaviest metal
there is in terms of uncontrollable bodily reactions
like headbanging and foot tapping, “You
Want To” is the best example I can give
you off that the riff and beat just bounce along
with ease. This stuff is a complete feel good
explosion, I feel like I’m living back in
the days of old school rock and roll wearing a
wicked looking suit with a nice glass of whiskey
in hand.
All 3 of their albums are just proof of the fact
that whilst you may not be able to teach a dog
new tricks what the dog may do is come forward
with the same tricks but because you haven’t
seen them in a while and he’s put some new
tweaks into it it’s even more impressive
than it was in the first place. Just realised
what a crap metaphor that is but hell all I’m
saying is it won’t renovate the modern age
or revive a genre but the fact they sound has
a high production value and smooth arrangements
it’s still just as impressive as some of
the greats of the age.
4/5
Review by James Webb
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