Devil's Gate Music
Related Articles
It’s been five years since StoneWire (Capital S and capital W – one word) released their debut album ‘When The Crow Flies’. It’s hard to remember what the world was like five years ago before the current shit-show sorry state of affairs that is modern day. But while current affairs lurch from one WTF moment to another, you can always rely on guitars, bass, drums and killer vocals to get you through the circus. And there’s oodles of all of the above on ‘Life As We Know It’.
Billed as “Heavy Blues Rock with a dirty Southern twist”, StoneWire crossover many genres, sneaking some metal-sized riffs in here and there. But ultimately, the English five-piece are a hard rock group, and a rather striking one at that. You are as likely to pick up an Aerosmith influence on the album (especially certain guitar parts on ‘One For The Road’ which recall ‘Smith classic ‘Nobody’s Fault’, and the smoking hot title track) as you are a traditional Southern Rock/Skynyrd influence (the near seven minute epic ‘Hero’s Journey’ springs to mind).
Opener ‘Monkey Talk’ begins with a killer guitar intro that develops into the sleaziest of sleazy guitar licks, yes, ‘Life As We Know It’ is a guitar album. Copious amounts of dual lead guitar feature heavily on the album, and on behalf of those of us sick of hearing the guitars way down in the mix, we thank guitarists Gaz Annable and Duncan Greenway for being loud and proud. ‘FTM’ (fuck the man maybe?) keeps this going and features some rather lovely slide guitar, as well as stellar work from the backbone of the band – Steve Briggs on bass and drummer Rob Glasner. The pair in the engine room continue to shine on ‘House Rules’, which features a beefy bass sound from Briggs.
Vocalist Sky Hunter has a wonderful gravelly voice which sparks memories of the “Queen of British Blues” – Elkie Brooks, especially from her early career with Vinegar Joe. Her vocals are warm, gritty and authentic, and soar throughout the ten featured tracks, especially on the slower ‘One For The Road’, ‘All That Matters’ and the ass-shaking ‘Top Shelf Conversation’ (which features more sexy slide guitar!).
Lots to admire on ‘Life As We Know It’, fantastic songs with exquisite playing for one, but more the fact that StoneWire have shown great tenacity in waiting five years to spring their sophomore album, knowing that they have the material to make the wait well worthy.
‘Life As We Know It’ is available now, more information here.
LIVE DATES
Nov 8: Great Yarmouth, Hard Rock Hell XIII
Nov 14: London, Hope & Anchor
Dec 07: London, The Cavern
Band Photo Credit – Ben Tatham
Review – Dave
