Facebook [Release date 02.10.26]

God bless the 90′s. Grunge. Groove. ’70′s rock throwbacks. Rock reborn from hair metal. And bands with names like Black Water Redemption…

Now THIS band know how to bring all that together, the swagger, the riffs, the cliched lyrics (for example in ‘Praying For The Sun’ we get “Before the storm there is a calm, now I’m dying in your arms.”) the angst, the passion – and they do it really, really well. Except maybe for the lyrics. From the opening ‘Stand For Something’ this is a band who know what they want, how they want to sound, and how to achieve it.

There is so much to like here if, like me, the ’90′s reinvigorated your love of rock. There’s a hundred influences, most of them I can almost bet Black Water Redemption have no idea about. I don’t mean that to patronise, but just that they’re probably too damn young to know! For example, does anyone remember My Little Funhouse, an Irish band from the mid ’90′s who were tipped for the very top, signing a massive deal with Geffen at a time when signing for Geffen should have meant, well, G’n'R style success? No? What about Buddha Grass Harbour, a Scottish band who grooved with the best of them but due to poor management never got anywhere that they should have done? I could go on, and do, frequently, about bands that should have made it.

But that’s not meant as a criticism, rather than BWR could, just could, make it. The obvious enthusiasm they have oozes through every song, the classic rock upbringing, the shamelessly unoriginal lyrics about love, loss, hard lovin’ women – for example on ‘Lightning Strikes’ it feels like Scorpions Klaus Meine has helped out – they bring it all together really well. We get sincere piano on ‘Fly Like The Crow’, full of hand wringing, late night bar, cowboy hat – I’m thinking Poison at their most sincere. Or am I thinking of Electric Boys? I certainly am on the next song, the rocktastically titled ‘Ride Or Die’ (oh yeah!) .

Like I say, this is ’90′s rock heaven from a band from Southampton who obviously think that the home of The Saints is somewhere in Los Angeles. Every song is different, tighter than the jeans these boys wear. This is music that’s meant to be heard live, in a sweaty club, late, with a bottle of Jack. In vocalist Adam Chambers they have swaggering, classic grunge voice. Don’t think Eddie Vedder, but Layne Staley at his most harmonious. And the boy can scream when he needs to, he just saves that for when it’s needed.

Anything else? Yes, they look so bloody cool! Check out the video for the epic ‘I Gave It All’. It’s all black, all hair, all attitude, this is a band who have themselves sorted right out, and if you want to go on the journey with them, then, well, ok. I get the feeling that this lot make this music for themselves. If you like them, great. If you don’t then they’ll just say f*** you!

If it wasn’t for some of the lyrics – not terrible, just too cliched!- which I cannot forgive, this is a five star album. Every song impresses in a different way.

I’m gonna stand back and watch this lot explode. And if they don’t, it’s your fault. ****

Review by Chris Collingwood (@collingwood2112)

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

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

Josh now hosts “Taerk’s Tracks” as part of the Singer Songwriter Sunday sequence on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.

This is the first show broadcast on 27 September. Josh presents some of his inspirational artists and tracks.

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 27 September 2026.

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Power Plays w/c 12 October 2026

TAKIDA – Lion’s Den (Drongo Records)
SCARDUST – Symphony (Frontiers)
ANBERLIN – Gravity (Rude Records/Equal Vision Records)
MISSING TOYS – Lifeline (Pride & Joy Music)
SWEET GORILLA – It’s Your Life (5000 Records)
ROYAL BLOOD – Dead Company (Warner Records)

Featured Albums w/c 12 October 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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