Eventually, all guitar prodigies have to put up or fall by the wayside (you will never get them to shut up) and for a while I feared that Danny Bryant would be one of the latter. Thankfully this release shows that he has developed and has the burning desire in his playing still.
He was a protégé of Walter Trout at a young age and he has taken the lessons that Trout taught him to heart but there is a definite ‘Danny Bryant Sound’ emerging from the Blues/rock riffery. He is also developing into a pretty good songwriter and all the tracks on this album are written by him.
Standout number is probably his tribute to Hubert Sumlin ‘Greenwood 31’ and the playing on that number is full of power and melody but no shortage of oomph from the riff. It leads straight into a trademark ballad in ‘Can’t Hold On’ and you can feel the restrained emotion in his voice – this one is destined to be a monster live number and he does these better than anyone around at the moment, certainly in Blues.
‘Hurrican’ has a little too much of an eighties throb to it – all electronic drums and synth – but the song has some emotion and heart in it but he swiftly moves on to the cracking ‘Devil’s Got A Hold On Me’ which drives like a V8 Chevvy and even dabbles in some keyboards to great effect. Closer ‘Painkiller’ is delightful, albeit not what we ghave come to expect from Mr Bryant – an atmospheric ballad, as understated as it is effective.
He is a major talent in Europe, Germany and Holland especially hold him close to their hearts and while he stays in the power trio genre I can see that being his best market for many years. It is about time his homeland started to understand what a fine young musician they have in their midst – he is proving to be the real deal.
