BLUES PILLS — Blues Pills (review)

BLUES PILLS — Blues Pills album cover Album · 2014 · Heavy Psych Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Kev Rowland
If you knew nothing about the band apart from the artwork of their debut album from 2014, then you might presume that it had come from some forty-five years earlier, and in many ways, you wouldn’t be wrong. This is blues rock, played with swagger and feeling, with a sound that is reminiscent of Free, Taste and so many other great bands from that period. In some ways one could argue that this is the closest that any band has come to revitalising Big Brother & The Holding Company and combining them with Stone The Crows. The band originally came together in 2011 when Zack Anderson (bass) and Cory Berry (drums), met singer Elin Larsson and after they had recorded some EPs they discovered guitarist Dorian Sorriaux and invited him to join. Dorian was just sixteen at the time, so he was still a teenager when this album was recorded, which is somewhat hard to fathom.

They can produce high octane blues rock, or as in the incredible “River”, mix it up and produce straight ahead blues where Elin shows that she can sing like Adele just as much as she can channel the spirit of Janis. The guitar sound is so big that one can just sit on the chords and ride them around the room, although there are also some classic Peter Green stylings to add that clarity and finesse. Zack and Cory have an important part to play, as they provide the backdrop for the other two to play with, and the result is one of the most impressive debuts you are ever likely to come across, no matter what the genre.

The guys can rock when they want to, but when they slow it down just a little they shine, and it is impossible to understand that the sounds are being created by people who have yet to hit their prime.
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