Review by Hawk Chavez
Hailing from Edmonton and Glasgow, Kentucky, Black Stone Cherry represents all things hard rock with their infectious riffs, heartfelt drums, and enticing vocals. They are not your average mainstream rock band and perhaps never will be. Some music fans will try to compare them to Soundgarden or Lynyrd Skynrd - they are far from it. Influenced by everyone from the Beatles to Elvis Presley and then some it is quite hard to compare or maybe even categorize them.
I enjoy listening to bands that have an inkling of what songs and music consist of. The self-titled album is powerful, the lyrics are without a doubt clear and so is the music. However, my ears tend to lean towards the high-powered music and tone out the lyrics, which in some songs was easy to do. “Backwoods Gold” is the perfect example of raving music over lyrics. It is like listening to a race between drums and guitars and the drums are winning by a mile. “Backwoods Gold” is one of my favourites of the entire album, the storyline of the song is short and clear simply about a townsman running old-fashion liquor distillery in a hardware store. My ultimate favourite is “Shooting Star.” Being a musician before being a songwriter; I am always admiring the music first, especially paying close attention to the bass and drums, the drum solo on this track is out-of-this-world!
I cannot end this introductory review without discussing “Tired Of The Rain.” I’m tired of the rain that keeps on falling down on me… We all have had days like that. The rain just keeps falling but (as the song continues), when I will get over this mountain, you know I will be set free. Black Stone Cherry accrued all the soul and energy deep within and threw it will full force. It is as pure and realistic as pure and realistic can get and I do not think it can get anymore than that.