Provogue Records [Release date 19.06.26]

Recorded in their home town of Copenhagen, Thorbjorn Risager & The Black Tornado’s ‘Live At Hotel Cecil’ is a superb album on which they reclaim blues as exciting, lyrically strong and musically adventurous.

They draw on blues, rock, funk, soul, jazz, boogie and sparkling toned layered sounds, via superb ensemble and virtuoso playing, on songs with substance.

This is well crafted and subtly paced music given the blue touch paper treatment on several climactic moments.

Recorded at the end of their 2025 ‘House of Sticks’ tour, this is a band at the height of its powers who overcome a surprisingly low-key start, on an album which builds by degrees.

The slow start is simply because the album initially fails to convey the audience’s sense of engagement. The crowd’s response is sometimes mixed too far back, or simply faded out too quickly.

But it’s a minor blip on an otherwise incredible 17 track live double album, on which the band strains every sinew on ‘All I Want’, the breathtaking, 10 minute long closing track.

As always, they open with ‘Already Gone’, a trademark power shuffle which imbues their ebullient musical chops with an emotional reach.

The latter is extended on the reflective ‘Long Time Ago’, albeit with an opening sample that makes it sound more studio than live.

Powered by Emil Balsgaard’s funky keyboard riff, it has a swampy feel with double harmony lines, horn stabs, cool dynamics and Joachim Svensmark’s resolving guitar solo.

The Danish octet is capable of moving from the laid back to the explosive in the blink of an eye.

The juxtaposition of ‘Said I Was Hurt’ – a 3 horn soulful ballad – with the atmospheric ‘House of Sticks’ and the rollicking ‘Insomnia Boogie’ illustrates the point.

The lyrically dark ‘House of Sticks’ is outstanding. It features vocal and guitar double lines, bombastic horns, a military drum beat, a stop-time pause and dreamy section before a perfunctory finish.

The subsequent void is filled perfectly by the crowd pleasing ‘Insomnia Boogie’, a rip-roaring big band outing with a suitably husky vocal, triple horns and piano.

‘Long Forgotten Track’ is a mesmerising slice of Americana and features a magical moment at 3.47 when Peter W. Kehl muted trumpet gives way to Svensmark’s beautiful guitar solo over a perfect horn accompaniment.

‘Sin City’ is a funky stomp with a gritty guitar and ethereal synth intro, topped by Risager’s growl. The rich toned solo at 2.08 (which might be either guitar or keyboards) sounds like Caribbean steelpans at one point. Curiously there’s no credit given at the end.

‘Never Giving In’ – an ode to resilience – finds the band at it’s very best on a complex arrangement.

A meditative 2 minute droned intro evolves into a riff-driven piece offset by an ethereal swampy feel. Martin Seidelin’s brings fresh impetus at 4.50 with a shuffle drum pattern and he adds some tic-toc percussion to usher in an Arcade Fire style cinematic riff with more Caribbean steelpan sounds.

A ferocious drum break and climatic horns leads to a pregnant pause and a subsequent cathartic release with Risager’s resolving rap, as he sings “I will rise up.”

The band rocks hard on ‘Headed For The Stars’, full of Risager’s declaratory vocal, more horn stabs, a dreamy organ and tight ensemble playing, while they get funky on the horn inflected ‘Inner Light’ and then ease up on the poignant ‘I Used To Love You’.

They’re back in the groove on the guitar-led ‘Come On In’, which sounds like a celebratory band anthem, on which guitar, synth and horns coalesce seamlessly.

‘Hold My Lover Tight’ is a stop-time rocker fuelled by the incendiary rhythm section and topped by a gutsy guitar solo, and wild horn stabs.

The down-home opening of ‘Train’ is given some funky horn and piano injected urgency, while the gut busting finale of ‘All I Want’ finds Risager rising above the imperious horn section and Emil Balsgaard’s final Hammond solo for the perfect finish.

‘Live at Hotel Cecil’ is an exhilarating album which seizes the moment to confirm Thorbjorn Risager & The Black Tornado’s status as Europe’s leading blues outfit! *****

Review by Pete Feenstra

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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INDIGO SYNDICATE dwn4smr (indie)
THE SKBS The Prying Eye (indie)
AGAINST THE CURRENT Dead Man Walking (indie)
ICONIC Tears Keep On Falling (Frontiers)

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12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
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