Provogue (label)
26 August 2016 (released)
21 August 2016
Some albums benefit from listening to often and some – well not so much. Apocalypse Blues Revue have been on and off my deck for about the last month and I can definitely say that they are well worth the returning to.
Coming from the core of heavy metal outfit Godsmack – drummer Shannon Larkin and guitarist Tony Rombola – and adding vocalist Rafer John Carbone and bassist Brian Carpenter they actually came out of some Blues jamming while writing Godsmack’s 2010 album ‘The Oracle’ and developed into a very different take on Blues rock – darker and with many of the sensibilities of heavy metal.
In general it works better than you might think – much better.
The first rack that really grabs at you is ‘Junkie Hell’. Slow and heavy as all get up, Rombola’s guitar is like a snake working its way through the detritus of a junkie’s bedroom while Larkin and Carpenter lay down some ponderous blasts. Unlike many metal bands it doesn’t celebrate the louche junkie life but describes it in chilling detail.
‘I Think Not’ comes across as a normal and lightweight Blues but listen to the lyrics and you get the feeling there is something rather darker in the relationship than you might first get.
Quentin Tarantino should pick up on ‘Whiskey In My Coffee’ but then you have ‘The Tower’ which brings the darkness back with some monstrous kind of dreamscape view of personal development. Again Rombola’s guitar is wicked and nasty.
The nearest thing to a Godsmack kind of riff laden track is ‘The Devil In Me’ where the space between the instruments and the thudding drums creates a dense and close vibe – this should be a massive live number.
The album is a corker and I found that every time I revisited it, it gave me something I hadn’t spotted before – considering the number of Blues albums about, that is worthy in itself.
