Album review : AMIGO THE DEVIL – Yours Until The War Is Over

February 23rd, 2024 by brianmc

Liars Club/Regime Music [Release date : 23.02.24]

Interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine just prior to the release of his 2021 album, Born Against (a relevant and revealing play on words), Danny Kiranos explained his love of the music of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits: “It really is only three instruments, two instruments sometimes, and it’s this incredible playing with space and silence and the lack of noise that makes it sounds so full.”

He could have used those words to describe Yours Until The War Is Over. But beware, the space occupied by this new album is a dark, brooding, dangerous place. It’s not for the faint hearted.

His fierce demeanour reflects his European heritage, and like all great songwriters, he tells a self contained story with every track.

Standout track ‘Hanging By The Roots’ is the poster boy for Kiranos’s minimalist instrumental approach. Even basic ballast has been thrown overboard, leaving us simply with two guitars, one acoustic, one electric.
His intimate vocal style – like he’s telling us dark secrets – sets the scene here, “are you bound to find hope, or are you just a victim of the rope?”.

‘It’s All Gone’s wind up acoustic guitars and music hall percussion sit in unadorned tribute to Kiranos’s censure of a life unlived: “The only life that’s ever really worthless is a life without a story to tell”. Try telling them that when you reach the Pearly Gates.

His narratively and thematically rich songs peak with ‘I’m Going To Heaven’, buoyed by Morricone choirs and shouty vocals, his claim that ‘I’m Going To Heaven, and I’m Not Coming Back’ is a lyric to remember.

There’s a strong sense of melancholy threading its way through many of the songs. Scenes and characters float through vividly drawn settings, making songs like the lyrically deft love story, ‘The Mechanic’ come to life like a movie that’s over in 4 minutes.

The most affecting songs came a little later in the running order. The warped Americana of ‘Once Upon A Time In Texaco’, the tale of a drunken gas station robbery gone wrong (Nicely humorous Leone reference in the title), and the intensely moving ‘The Garden Of Leaving‘ both synthesize rural musical traditions with unsentimental (and all the more moving) story telling.

More evidence of an artist at the top of his game. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)