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Album number three from Scott Gorham and his band of merry men, and with the sophomore album ‘The Killer Instinct’ gatecrashing the top 20 album chart, the expectations for ‘Heavy Fire’ are high. The tours are getting longer, the venues larger, and the Thin Lizzy comparisons fewer. While Black Star Riders will never fully leave the legacy behind, with each album released, and more importantly, with each quality album released, they stand on their own two feet just a little more. It does help though that Black Star Riders are consummate players, and any band with three guitarists will always produce something that stands out. Ricky Warwick flits between his time with his solo band The Fighting Hearts and his stints with Black Star Riders with ease. In doing so, he brings to the party some of the punk poet ethos that features on his solo material. Some of ‘When The Night Comes In’ and ‘Dancing With The Wrong Girl’ could easily have featured on his ‘Patsy Cline’ album. This generation’s Van Morrison, who knows? But like his Norn Iron compatriot, he is an accomplished songwriter and a great storyteller. ‘Cold War Love’ is a classic example of a slow burning song. A simple guitar picking tone that immediately has the ears standing to attention. A great easy going vibe with some killer guitar solos. Perfectly blended together, with some thought provoking lyrics that intrigue, is Warwick literally talking about war, or comparing the relationship between the protagonists of war? That guitar tone though… sublime. ‘Heavy Fire’ is a guitar-heavy album. Gorham, Warwick, and one of the most underrated guitarists around today, Damon Johnson, all take their moments in the spotlight. ‘Testify Or Say Goodbye’ has some great solos but it’s the addition of female backing vocals that make the song stand out. Pearl Aday knocks it out of the park. Go check out the Motor Sister album that she made with husband Scott Ian. A damn fine album, and a crying shame they cancelled their UK tour dates last year. ‘When The Night Comes In’ and ‘Ticket To Rise’ also benefit from some female backing vocals, giving the songs an extra dimension, and again, the guitar solos on both are blistering. The album is also very soulful in places. The intro to ‘True Blue Kid’ has a real swagger about it that impresses throughout. Not full-on ‘Shaft’ or ‘Across 110th Street’, but it grooves like a motherfucker. Warwick’s vocal style on the track brings Elvis Costello to mind; almost spoken word, like he’s reading poetry aloud. It’s not easy to do this and retain the listener’s attention, but Warwick does. Although the guitar work is front and centre, don’t underestimate the stellar work from the engine room team of bassist, Robbie Crane and his cohort on the skins, Jimmy DeGrasso, quietly providing the foundations for the flash bastard lead guitarists to build upon! With live dates on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how many Thin Lizzy tracks are played this time around. Three albums down, Black Star Riders should go for it and restrict the legacy to no more than one or two. And there’s the dilemma. Previously, the cry was that Black Star Riders weren’t Thin Lizzy, so why pretend. Now, I’ll bet that if they concentrate on their own material, some nugget will be shouting for ‘Rosalie’, ‘Emerald’, ‘Jailbreak’ etc, etc. It’s like Garth said in Wayne’s World, ”We Fear Change”…. ‘Heavy Fire’ is available now through Nuclear Blast Review – Dave Stott]]>
