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"With their protean and multi-generational blues-hard-rock, the Americans knocked out the competition and imposed a strong brand name."
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4/5
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With "Kentucky", his fifth album released in 2016, Black Stone Cherry seemed to have finally found its balance between strong roots, a commercially catchy format and a true personality. After an EP with 6 tracks of covers of blues standards that seem to validate the foundations of this assumed identity ("Back To Blues" - 2017), the quartet is back with a new set of 13 tracks once again recorded at Barrick Recordings Studios in Glasgow, Kentucky. For the first time, the band produced itself, with Chris Robertson in charge, and the title "Family Tree" seems to confirm the pride the band takes in its new artistic balance.
To define Black Stone Cherry's music, it is best to detail its unique and original recipe. Without denying his first albums, without which he would probably not have been able to reach this degree of maturity, the quartet now offers a subtle balance between blues-rock roots, a catchy format and choruses to tease commercial success, a southern atmosphere worthy of the best Lynyrd Skynyrd, a big sound flirting with hard-rock, and a global image making the group a leader of the revival movement with a now unique identity. All these elements being found on almost all the titles, it is difficult to put a track forward to argue each point.
However, each piece of this important album has enough personality to be quickly identified. "Bad Habit" has an epileptic drum set and draws a surprising heavy bridge for the duration of his solo. 'New Kinda Feelin'' takes advantage of a bastringue piano to reinforce a virile atmosphere of a smoky bar. 'My Last Breathe' is the only track dedicated to sweetness, rolling out its mid-tempo with deep emotional power reinforced by gospel choirs. 'Southern Fried Friday Night' is a powerful Southern anthem with its hammered riff and talk-box. Warren Haynes comes to share the vocals on a powerful "Dancin' In The Rain" and offers a guitaristic orgy on its finale. More surprising and hyper catchy, 'James Brown' confirms that Black Stone Cherry knows what the word groove means. On 'You Got The Blues', Chris Robertson's son, 5 years old, participates in the choirs of this encounter between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jimi Hendrix, as improbable as it is unstoppable. Finally, the eponymous title is perhaps the most symbolic of this protean and multigenerational blues-hard-rock offered by the quartet.
Although still a little long, "Family Tree" is no less than confirmation of Black Stone Cherry's status as a leader of the genre. Carried by a flawless interpretation whose warm and deep vocal of a Chris Robertson at the height of his art is impossible not to mention, the band's music now takes on its full scope. And the worst part is that the margin of progression still seems wide, with perhaps the prospect of integrating a full-time keyboard into the current line-up, the contribution of this instrument being particularly exciting on this new opus. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Bad Habit - 3:15
02. Burnin' - 3:28
03. New Kinda Feelin' - 3:34
04. Carry Me On Down The Road - 4:34
05. My Last Breathe - 4:18
06. Southern Fried Friday Night - 3:26
07. Dancin' In The Rain (feat. Warren Haynes) - 3:57
08. Ain't Nobody - 5:09
09. James Brown - 3:58
10. You Got The Blues - 4:09
11. I Need A Woman - 3:19
12. Get Me Over You - 4:32
13. Family Tree - 5:10
LINEUP:
Ben Wells: Guitares
Chris Robertson: Chant / Guitares
John Fred Young: Claviers / Batterie
Jon Lawhon: Basse
Warren Haynes: Chant / Guitares / Invité
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