Black Stone Cherry - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Rating - 7.5/10
This is the third album from Kentucky Rockers Black Stone Cherry and true to form, it's full of catchy chorus's and guitar riffs which make anyone want to pick up a Gibson and go hell for leather! Let's be honest, 'Folklore and Superstition' wasn't a hard album to follow where as their self titled debut was something quite spectacular. This album follows the form of the first album luckily.
The album opens with 'White Trash Millionaire', a track which within 10 seconds will have you tapping your feet and singing along to the chorus. This is followed by 'Killing Floor', a track which opens with an almost eastern style guitar riff but leads into a break down just before the solo which made me make sure I was listening to the correct album!
The outstanding track of the album though has to be 'Won't Let Go', more of a ballad but with all of the right parts! The chorus is catchy, the vocals powerful, the guitar cranked up and the tune so catchy you'll be humming it for hours afterwards without realising it.
'Blame it on the boom boom' however is not such a success. Quite frankly, I think they should have left this song on the cutting room floor instead of including it, it seems to let down the entire album up to that point. Unfortunately this is a theme which continues for much of the latter part of the album, songs which simply have too much production and lyrics mentioning cars, guitars, freight trains and suitcases full of broken hearts, it's far too clichéd I'm afraid.
This album is a real mix, with some tracks ranking amongst some of the best modern rock tracks I've heard, but others seriously failing to deliver anything other than some guitar, a wah pedal and some distortion. It seems a shame that a band who are so talented (and I speak from having seen them play the Fleece in Bristol as well as Hyde Park) feel the need to just make do on tracks. If they had stuck to the plan they started out with, this album would have been a solid 10/10 with ease.
That said, this album does what it sets out to do, provides some good ol' Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern Rock, as long as you don't take it too seriously you'll be fine!
This is the third album from Kentucky Rockers Black Stone Cherry and true to form, it's full of catchy chorus's and guitar riffs which make anyone want to pick up a Gibson and go hell for leather! Let's be honest, 'Folklore and Superstition' wasn't a hard album to follow where as their self titled debut was something quite spectacular. This album follows the form of the first album luckily.
The album opens with 'White Trash Millionaire', a track which within 10 seconds will have you tapping your feet and singing along to the chorus. This is followed by 'Killing Floor', a track which opens with an almost eastern style guitar riff but leads into a break down just before the solo which made me make sure I was listening to the correct album!
The outstanding track of the album though has to be 'Won't Let Go', more of a ballad but with all of the right parts! The chorus is catchy, the vocals powerful, the guitar cranked up and the tune so catchy you'll be humming it for hours afterwards without realising it.
'Blame it on the boom boom' however is not such a success. Quite frankly, I think they should have left this song on the cutting room floor instead of including it, it seems to let down the entire album up to that point. Unfortunately this is a theme which continues for much of the latter part of the album, songs which simply have too much production and lyrics mentioning cars, guitars, freight trains and suitcases full of broken hearts, it's far too clichéd I'm afraid.
This album is a real mix, with some tracks ranking amongst some of the best modern rock tracks I've heard, but others seriously failing to deliver anything other than some guitar, a wah pedal and some distortion. It seems a shame that a band who are so talented (and I speak from having seen them play the Fleece in Bristol as well as Hyde Park) feel the need to just make do on tracks. If they had stuck to the plan they started out with, this album would have been a solid 10/10 with ease.
That said, this album does what it sets out to do, provides some good ol' Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern Rock, as long as you don't take it too seriously you'll be fine!