www.voodoovegas.com [Release date 12.10.15]
I had all the members of Voodoo Vegas stay at my place once before playing a local festival and after they had drunk all the beer, wine, mosquito cream and a couple of cans of lawnmower oil, I checked the pool and there wasn’t a single floating tattoo – that’s how I know these guys are the real deal.
Following the critical acclaim of their storming debut album “The Rise of Jimmy Silver” in 2013, the South Coast-based rockers are back with a teaser EP which suggests that the football team isn’t the only Premier League thing coming out of Bournemouth.
There wasn’t anything broken on “Jimmy Silver” so, thankfully, nothing got fixed on the “Hypnotise” EP…except they have added some go-faster stripes with impressive new lead guitarist, Jon Dawson, and made a wise choice by enlisting producer, Will Maya, (The Answer, Breed 77) for the new material.
The resulting sound on “Hypnotise” remains unmistakably Voodoo Vegas in that there is venom and guts aplenty but these four tracks have more grooves than a pair of corduroys indicating the band is really cooking and developing nicely.
Lead-off single “Hypnotise” gets straight to the nitty-gritty and is as tight as a camel’s arse in a sandstorm. “Killing Joke” warns of a woman who “if she wasn’t crazy, would be insane” and riffs and rocks like a mofo – wicked-good, if too brief, guitar solo on this one.
“Round And Round” is an absolute belter which showcases the band’s collective force as well as individual talent. Moulton (bass) and Smyth (drums) lock in tight and provide a solid platform from which Dawson and Hamilton (guitars) launch a very British-sounding axe attack and over which vocalist, Lawrence Case, gets to bawl and suck-harp in what must surely become a jammed-out crowd-pleaser when played live.
“Tied Up” has that early GnR energy, more stellar guitar work and is further testament that, following Jimmy Silver, Voodoo Vegas is indeed rising. The new album, which will follow the EP, promises to propel the band to greater heights than being a very creditable support act to such luminaries as Status Quo, Y&T, The Quireboys and Glenn Hughes.
As Case says, “any band based in Bournemouth has to travel north or on a ferry” to gig and they do….a lot, building fan bases in Holland, Germany and France as well as the UK. Catch them live as soon as you can – on this evidence, Voodoo Vegas are on fire. ****
Review by Mark “Mad Dog” Shaw
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SEVEN BLOOD To The Unknown (indie)
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