Two years in the making, this, the debut album by London rockers BIG RIVER has been worth every minute of the wait and is as big, strong and twisting as the Thames. The four-piece have grown from their original starting point of blues and added an increasingly harder edge that matches the ferocity and intensity of their live shows. Whilst at times there are faint echoes of other bands in the material on this album, it is all imbued very much with their own identity and these influences do nothing to overwhelm or detract from the strength of material or performances herein.
Weighing in at a tight half hour, this release gets in, does the business and gets out, leaving you dazed and winded like a punch-drunk boxer floored in the third round.
A wailing harmonica announces the album on Jim Jam before quickly segueing into the stomping Blues Blood Baby , a monstrous, big and dirty slice of Essex Estuary blues. It s a striking opening and is gifted with an insistent chorus that rolls and struts with a knowing grasp of barrel-chested melody. It s a track that keeps on giving with a great stuttering and heavy solo by Damo Fawsett and bags of character in the vocals of front man Adam Bartholomew, a man whose intonation brings unexpected jags of pleasure throughout.
Mama ups the ante again with its modern, hard rocking blues and you can really imagine the band tearing things up live. Incredibly ballsy, this pitches perfectly between being heavy and tuneful. The track is a great pointer to the fact that the album was recorded virtually live in the studio as you can really feel the electricity flow between the four-piece as they really let loose, bringing the toughness and spark to all the cuts therein.
Who Do You Want Me to Be lets you get your breath back with a more laid-back vibe. The vocals are tender but forceful, a steel hand in a velvet glove, whilst the guitar solo by Fawsett rolls, filled with peaks and troughs and it never quite goes where you expect it to which shakes it out of the mould.
Another switch comes with the intro to Hometime Hustler which sounds like a whiskey and gasoline-soaked version of The Clash before morphing into snarling and cocksure blues. The guitar solo is frantic and fuzzed out, slicing like razor wire whilst Ant Wellman s bass and the drums of Joe Martin provide a rock-solid base for the mayhem.
The rhythm section is allowed to swing during the NWOBHM boogie of Devil s Whiskey , a track that mixes equal parts of AC/DC, Howlin Wolf and Gary Moore to great effect. Adding a real splash of colour, backing singer for the album Lucie Hart is brought to the front of the mix and it s a real treat to hear how her vocals compliment and add an edge to the choruses. Considering that she was the tender of age of sixteen when she recorded her parts, it s a pretty good bet that much more will be heard of this talented young woman and she s a name to look out for in the future.
The band continue to press with their rock credentials as Dancing with the Devil is another stomping NWOBHM style track that recalls the very best of those halcyon days from bands like Samson, the Tygers of Pan Tang and Praying Mantis. The penultimate cut You Are My Sun is, again, a step off the pedal and is full of quiet drama, lush vocals by Bartholomew and Hart and a terrific Southern Rock infused guitar solo.
Blackened Rain closes the album with a scream and heavy riffing, providing the final knock out blow. Never content with just straight ahead rocking out, BIG RIVER never seem to sacrifice a good tune to the altar of just pure heaviness for the sake of it. Theirs is a more measured approach and this two-year gestation period has provided them with a debut album that will certainly stand the test of time, perfectly capturing the balance of their sweat soaked live shows and the finesse of the studio. As any preacher standing in a river, waiting to baptize, will say: you need Redemption.