The local lads and incredible southern rock band These Wicked Rivers have finally released their highly anticipated album today. To say the hype is high would be an understatement. I’ve been seeing this everywhere, and every single they’ve put out has somehow been just as good as the last. So, as soon as it was released, we knew we just had to write this review. Let’s get right into it!
The opening title track kicks things off with a fantastic fuzzy, southern/blues rock riff. It’s a great way to start things off, heavy and swaggering. John’s vocals are powerful and incredible through the verses, sounding better than ever and being accented perfectly by the guitars dropping out and playing big chords. It all builds to an awesome chorus, catchy and easily built for massive festivals and arenas. The ‘woh’s make it feel massive, and will go down so well live! It drops down after the second chorus, it just being John and the organ, which sounds great. Building in the other vocals and the acoustic guitar gives off big Skynard vibes in the best ways, and leads to a fantastic guitar solo. The bass work through it is also amazing, not that I’m jealous at all… This is an awesome track, and the perfect introduction to the album. It shows off who These Wicked Rivers are and highlights their many strengths. It easily makes our playlist!
‘The Family’ continues the same energy perfect, feeling similar to the opener and having the same attitude and swagger. It’s another catchy track too, with the harmonies adding so much to the sound. It’s the perfect blend of Bad Touch, Blackberry Smoke and The Outlaws. It fits perfect in with the NWOCR scene they have gotten massive in, while still having a great southern edge to it that certainly makes them stand out. It’s another great song!
Single ‘Black Gold’ has been in regular rotation for me since it’s release nearly six months ago. It’s an amazing song that helped build the hype towards this album massively. This, alongside the following track, have really helped to propell this band to huge heights over the last year, and it’s more than deserved. The riffing is awesome, the vocals are catchy and it all just has such a great polish and professional edge to it all; it really feels like a step up from their previous release. Both ‘Black Gold’ and ‘Testify’ are everything I love about These Wicked Rivers. They’re incredible tracks and both easily make our playlist!
‘When the War is Won’ is the first time the album takes a proper breather. It’s a slower, more stripped-back, heavily southern-rock ballad, and it’s fucking awesome. The clean guitars, simple drums and bass and John’s powerful, emotion-filled vocals all combine together perfectly. And it’s the best placement for the track too, giving a reprive at the mid point of the album. The diversity These Wicked Rivers has always been awesome, and is on full display with this track. I REALLY want to see this live!
Another big single from the album, ‘The Riverboat Man’, is up next. It brings the band back to the sound from the opening couple of songs; massive riffs and vocals. It almost has an early Black Stone Cherry sound to it, which I love. The chorus is one of the best on the album, and one that will once again be stuck in my head for hours to come. But that’s not to take away from the rest of the band, the instrumentation is overall incredible. I can’t not, I usually try to stick to max three, but I have to put this track on our playlist, too! An awesome track on an awesome album!
‘Just to be a Man’ is another slower track in very similar vein to ‘…war’. I love the this stripped back, more subdued style of These Wicked Rivers as much as I love their more foot-stomping harder sound. It kicks in perfectly later on too, the distorted guitars ripping in and making the track even more epic. And man, the guitar solo… *chefs kiss*. This album continues to keep me not only interested, but blows my mind every couple of tracks, I love it!
The final three tracks, ‘Lord Knows’, ‘Don’t Prey for Me’ and ‘Lonely Road’ are all just as kick-ass as the other songs on the album. The former is another hard/southern rock master class, while the final two tracks are slower. Honestly, it’s hard to pick a favourite between all of them too, as they are all so different and fantastic in their own way. ‘Don’t Prey for Me’ is honestly one of my favourite tracks on the album, it has a definite Skynard-level of slow epicness to it. Meanwhile we’re very familiar with the closer, having filmed a reaction video to it when it was released. And it’s a fitting, beautiful, heart-wrenching closer. All are awesome songs.
Overall: Damn, what a fantastic album! Not only is there not a bad track on the album, but it’s packed full of incredible songs, a lot of them up there with some of my favourite the band have put out. They deserve all the attention and success they have been getting recently, and this album is a true testament to all of that. I truly believe it will help push them up to the top of the NWOCR scene, and it honestly couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people. If you’re a fan of rock in general, this is certainly an album you must check out immediately!
The Score: 9.5/10