Black Star Riders will be known to most as the band that was formed by the current day line-up of Thin Lizzy in December 2012 as a vehicle for new music. Since making that decision they have put out two extremely solid albums and wowed crowds around the globe with their own brand of Classic rock. February 2017 sees album number three out on Napalm Records and the most remarkable thing is not how good it is – it’s how well these guys have forged their own identity.
Make no mistake this is an important album and for those who thought that Classic Rock was on its last legs then you might just have to rethink. This is a release that can easily stand head and shoulders against a lot of those classic albums of the past, and whilst obviously it channels Thin Lizzy, it’s not just in the twin-guitar harmonies, but also in the diversity that great band employed.
This is also an album devoid of filler, full of guitar, full of harmony, melody and imagination. Lyrically too it offers much more than your average rock band in 2017. At its heart is the song-writing partnership of Damon Johnson and Ricky Warwick which given a few more years could easily be mentioned in the same breath of some of those great writing partnerships of the past.
As songs go playing favourites is close to impossible and rather beside the point, as this is an album you can play through again and again. Opening track HEAVY FIRE opens with a bluster and plenty of intent, its the perfect way to kick off the third and best outing so far. WHEN THE NIGHT COMES in has great thrust and more than a little Lizzy-like drive; and DANCING WITH THE WRONG GIRL is one I have to hear live ! It just has that cool summer-night sound that is simply infectious.
There’s no soft centre either: WHO RIDES THE TIGER hits as hard as its subject matter and feels just right up against the more contemplative COLD WAR LOVE. It’s the sheer unstoppability of the Holland-Dozier-Holland like rhythm section that drives TESTIFY OR SAY GOODBYE though that could well be HEAVY FIRE’s crowning glory. It’s a truly ‘great’ song.
THINKING ABOUT YOU COULD GET ME KILLED is another song you’d imagine the band would have to take on the road so laden with groove and hooks its another stand out, and all the better for the feeling of dirt under the fingernails. The album ends with two of the very best: TICKET TO RISE is a nice mid-tempo rocker raised to another level by the ‘Stonesy’ female backing vocals; and closer LETTING GO OF ME ends with power like we came in. It’s the perfect closer.
HEAVY FIRE is an album you need to hear and already its hard to imagine many releases topping it this year. Black Star Riders is a band that gets better with each release.
CHECK OUT OUR INTERVIEWS WITH RICKY WARWICK AND DAMON JOHNSON
