We’ve had some quality music from all corners of Europe already this year and as the end of the year dawns the latest offering to hit the inbox comes from Slovenia. This is Stray Train’s second outing after their 2016 debut ‘Just ‘cos you got a monkey off your back does not mean circus has left town’ which left local media calling them a “blues rock machine”.
Not one for short album names obliviously – the second outing’s full title is: ‘Blues From Hell – The Legend of the Courageous Five’ but that’s about the only thing long-winded about this band. Within the 12 tracks on offer here there’s a real feeling of British Blues mixed with the 70’s favour that their transatlantic hard rocking cousins added to the mix and shot through with 80’s melodic touches. Opener ‘Electrified’ for example sounds like it comes from a similar place to the early outings of a band like Thunder.
So what we have is not so much a Blues Rock band as a Hard Rock band that appreciates a bluesy note to their compositions. And to be honest when it works well it really hits the spot – tracks like the mid-tempo driving ‘Heading For the Sun’ show a huge amount of promise and great craft and they create some great grooves on cuts like “Mad Machine’ even if some of the ideas seem to warrant a little more refinement.
There’s a lot of melody here too and it works nicely with the harder numbers especially. If you are looking for highlights try ‘Days Gone’ where they show all that they can be, and the title track ‘Blues From Hell’ which adds the fattest groove here. This is good stuff.
TRACKLIST: 1. Electrified | 2. Heading For The Sun | 3. Days Gone | 4. Emona | 5. Mad Machine | 6. Blues From Hell | 7. House of cards | 8. Love Is Just A Breath Away | 9. My Baby’s Ride | 10. Give It Away | 11. No Easy |12. Miracle
The album will also be released on double vinyl.
