RIVAL SONS - Hollow Bones (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock

Label - Earache (Warner)

Track listing:

01 - Hollow Bones Pt. 1
02 - Tied Up
03 - Thundering Voices
04 - Baby Boy
05 - Pretty Face
06 - Fade Out
07 - Black Coffee
08 - Hollow Bones Pt. 2
09 - All That I Want

Although Long Beach classic rockers RIVAL SONS released their first album all the way back in 2009, Before The Fire, things really started to happen for them in 2014 with Great Western Valkyrie , an album which charted in fourteen countries around the world and saw the band appear on a wide array of prestigious television and festival appearances as well as supporting some of the biggest names in rock history. Now the band returns with their latest effort "Hollow Bones"  and have even being hand-picked recently to tour with the mighty Black Sabbath on their farewell tour for the remainder of the year.
Rival Sons appear to be able to do no wrong, and "Hollow Bones" is no exception.

Album opener and leading single “Hollow Bones Pt.1” immediately sets the tone, as Scott Holiday‘s fuzzy guitar carries through as a signature sound throughout many of these groove melody tracks. Its link with its counterpart “Hollow Bones Pt.2” later in the record syncs beautifully, like two long lost siblings reuniting.
“Tied Up” and “Thundering Voices” among others follow suit, while retaining their own unique and individual presence with subtle touches and arrangements. This is no doubt contributed not only by the band’s talents as musicians and songwriters but also by the talents of two-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb taking on producer duties once again.
Outside the obvious expectations that deliver and exceed in fine rock n’ roll, the album has some of its strongest moments when the band strips back the wall of sound.
Bassist Dave Beste and drummer Michael Miley earn serious brownie points for rhythm sections as their precision playing holds this record together and is a fierce driving force. They also know how and when to hold back; a quality in musicians equally as admirable and impressive as an epic performance.
In tracks such as “Fade Out” and in particular the haunting, Damien Rice-esque album closer “All That I Want”, these qualities bare great results as they allow enough space not only for a different style of song, but also for vocalist Jay Buchanan‘s vocal delivery to be as strong and passionate as possible. And man, does he deliver!

Soulful, funky, hard-edged, colourful, classic. That's all here in "Hollow Bones", Rival Sons' most varied production to date.

Highly Recommended

Rating: 10/10

RIVAL SONS - Head Down (2012)

Genre - Classic Hard Rock / Blues / Retro Rock
Label - Earache Records

Track listing:

01 - Keep On Swinging
02 - Wild Animal
03 - You Want To
04 - Until The Sun Comes
05 - Run From Revelation
06 - Jordan
07 - All The Way
08 - The Heist
09 - Three Fingers
10 - Nava
11 - Manifest Destiny (Pt. 1)
12 - Manifest Destiny (Pt. 2)
13 - True

"The Long Beach, California, quartet RIVAL SONS made a big splash in 2011 with their breakthrough album 'Pressure & Time'. It put the rest of the retro-rock scene on notice: rehash the past all you want, but we're the future. And with their brand new album "Head Down", they're here to prove it.
Precious few revivalists possess that old black magic to set them apart. But to a fusion of the Classic Hard Rock and progressive blues of the seventies, genuine soul and a gutsy groove, Rival Sons add the real X Factor: great, great songs.

Such an obvious ingredient, but it's truly unbelievable just how many others miss it.
Recorded in Nashville with Grammy-nominated producer Dave Cobb and Grammy-winning engineer Vance Powell, "Head Down" takes the band's electrifying blend of Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, Free, Deep Purple, The Doors and a dozen others to exhilarating new heights.
Kick the door in, take no prisoners, ask no questions, play it loud; as plans go, it's hard to fault.
Opener "Keep On Swinging" pretty much sums it up: big, bold, swaggering and totally badass, it sets the tone for an album which raises the bar across the board.
The breezy "Wild Animal" and "Until the Sun Comes" contrast nicely with the raunchiness of "All The Way" and "Three Fingers", themselves preludes to the sheer girth of "You Want To" – which recalls Zep at their raucous best – and the mighty "Manifest Destiny Pt. 1", a shadowy, smouldering epic that broods like a black hole.
Although the required ballads aren't the group's strong suit, both "Jordan" and "True" are carried off with confidence and without resorting to slush or schmaltz. Actually, these are superb slow tunes.
Both as performers and songwriters Rival Sons have upped their game, and "Head Down" puts them well ahead of the pack.
It takes a degree of skill to make music that ticks all the Classic Rock boxes without sounding like a shameless exercise in nostalgia, but despite impeccable retro credentials, Rival Sons are doggedly establishing themselves as a vital force for the modern age, too.
A more adventurous beast than the previous album, "Head Down" is a riotous carnival of classic-saluting riffs, sunkissed psychedelia and irresistible hooks, with the band's soul, funk and blues influences thrust joyously to the fore.
"Head Down" honours half a century of Classic (Hard) Rock with reverence, respect and the realisation that this music's still happening, right now.
Remarkable."

"Head Down" is a truly remarkable album and its unbelievable that its only the bands sophmore release as it shows such a depth of maturity in both the playing and songwriting that you could be forgiven for thinking that these guys had been at it since the 70's!


Rating - 10/10

Rival Sons - Pressure and Time

Genre - Classic Rock / Hard Rock
Label - Earache

Track listing -

01 - All Over the Road
02 - Young Love
03 - Pressure and Time
04 - Only One
05 - Get Mine
06 - Burn Down Los Angeles
07 - Save Me
08 - Gypsy Heart
09 - White Noise
10 - Face of Light

My God I have stepped back in time to the mid - late seventites, but in a good way. American Blues rockers, Rival Sons, produce the kind of music that wouldnt have sounded out of place along side the likes of Free, Bad Company, Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix and the like.
The music is great, classic sounding with a band upto date production, and the songs well, as I said they could easily hold their own against any of the classics.
Rival Sons are being touted as the next big thing at the moment, and I wouldnt be suprised if they do manage to break through to the mainstream, as they have all the right ingrediants to be huge.
Stand out tracks for me have to include, Only one, Save Me, Pressure and Time and Face Of Light.

this is an essential release for fans of the classic rock genre, these guys could be huge!

Website - Rival SonsRating - 10/10