Tuesday, April 24, 2018

The Second Coming of Heavy (Chapter Eight)




Label: Ripple Music


"Already recognised as one of the world's leading purveyors of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Stoner, Doom and Heavy Psych, Ripple Music upped the ante in 2015 with the arrival of one of their most ambitious projects to date, The Second Coming of Heavy Series.

Serving as an ongoing showcase for some of the best and heaviest bands emerging from the underground, each installment shines a light on those worthy of your attention. Consisting of one, 12” slab of multi-coloured vinyl with full colour sleeves and inserts, the series is designed to be saved and treasured, like a fine anthology of books. So much so when the albums are filed next to each other, the complete collection of aligned spines form a mind-blowing image direct from the underground".

The above quote was taken from the electronic press kit that accompanied the review copy of this album and it hits the nail on the head with the information about this series and the record label releasing the material.

This volume features a North American and a European band. The American band, Ride The Sun hail from Southern California and the European band, The Trikes are residents of Germany. The balance of this LP favours the US band, Ride The Sun get five songs and The Trikes get four. Time for some US/European trade balance discussion. There's a raw rock sound to a number of these tracks which is more Motorhead than Kyuss. According to Ride The Sun's bandcamp, there are two vocalists in this band, which maybe why sometimes the vocals are close to close to Neil Falloon of Clutch and at other times much rawer.

While Ride The Sun are about rocking your face of, their German offsiders, The Trikes are more laid back and instead of going for the throat, this band creep up on the listener with catchy melodic, jamming guitars and a reliable drummer providing the background beat which all fit into a psychedelic groove of fuzz together. Just listening to the music, it's impossible not to get the feeling that these musicians know each other well. A further inspection of their bandcamp site reveals that the vocalist/drummer and the bassist share a family name.

If I had to declare a winner between the two bands, then the prize would go to The Trikes as their musicianship is clearly of high caliber however it's clear Ride The Sun achieve their goal of rocking out and taking others along for the ride.

3.5/5

Release Date: 4 May 2018

The Trikes on bandcamp/Ride The Sun on bandcamp



The Trikes on Facebook/Ride the Sun on facebook







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