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Forty Below [Release Date : 23.02.24]
Philip Sayce’s ‘The Wolves Are Coming’ is a slash and burn affair full of hard rocking, wild burning riffs, some angst ridden vocals, a cute sense of dynamics and a preference for a wall of sound with plenty of distortion.
Such is his relentless attack that he comes close to evoking his portentous album title and startling art work, which leaves us in no doubt as what to expect.
His restless feel finds him charging relentlessly through 11 tracks that might have been better served by the more considered approach to be found on the blues ballad ‘It’s Over Now’, on which there’s a welcome clarity of diction offset by a characteristic wall of sound.
Then there the Beatles influenced ‘Intuition’, which opens with a thin nylon string or possibly synth guitar tone, but moves purposely to an explosive guitar led conclusion. The drone riff backing recalls the Fab 4’s ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy’) with a similar phased perfunctory finish.
And talking of influences, he recycles some thinly disguised Led Zeppelin on the opening bluster of ‘Oh! That Bitches Brew’, mixed with Peter Green’s ‘Oh Well’.
That said, it’s a perfect opener, powered by a bone crunching rhythm section, and topped by a Theremin sounding guitar.
The atmospheric break down is pure Zeppelin, but the way he drops the vocal out of the mix before a coda, shows his keen sense of dynamics.
He’s gets bit funky on the rhythmically strong, stripped back ‘Lady Love Divine’.
It flows nicely into a weirdly mixed solo that struggles to be heard above the rhythm track, before a Hendrixy riff into the outro.
The rapid fire hook of ‘Babylon is Burning’ exemplifies his hi-octane style which in this case incorporates a screaming guitar solo and shred, offset by potent bv’s and a beefed up wall of sound.
He often annoyingly doctor’s his voice and mixes it way back, which in the case of ‘The Moon Is Full’, as it sits apprehensively between some killer guitar work.
The feeling of clutter even occurs on the acoustic wash and echoed whispered on the otherwise impressive ‘Blackbirds Fly Alone.’
It’s a nicely built tune punctuated by muscular drums. The brief break down at 3.14 suggests what might have been, on a track where the different guitar lines push his vocal into the background again, before a shred led resolution.
He’s beefs things up on the swaggering ‘Backstabber’, complete with a borrowed “oooh ooh” refrain, chanted hook and manic up tempo finish, which will doubtless please guitar heads.
It’s the kind of track that would have a bigger impact had he let the previous tracks breath a little more.
He surprisingly finishes in down home fashion – just acoustic and piano – on a cover of John Lee Hooker’s ‘This Is Hip’, which has an unusual stop and start at the 1.12 minute mark.
‘The Wolves Are Coming’ will doubtless please long-time fans who will revel in his stunt guitar antics and hard rock bluster, while ‘Lady Love Devine’ and Blackbirds Fly Alone’ apart, the less committed will be searching for a memorable song. ***½
Review by Pete Feenstra
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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 9 April 2024.
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