Rival Sons – Feral Roots
Release Date: January, 2019
When I first heard Rival Sons back in 2011, their album Pressure and Time was such a refreshing thing to hear. At this time I was inundated with heavy metal music and then all of the sudden, out of nowhere, comes this band playing this nasty, ‘70s tinged classic rock and roll. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know better I would’ve thought they were straight out of the ‘70s. Because of this album, Rival Sons became a band that I would keep a close eye on.
2012’s Head Down was a fantastic follow up spawning two of the greatest Rival Sons songs ever with “Manifest Destiny Pt 1 & 2.” Unfortunately the next two albums (2014’s Great Western Valkyrie and 2016’s Hollow Bones) would find me feeling a bit lost and disappointed so my interested in Rival Sons pretty much ended as I held tight to their first three albums. In 2019 when it was announced that Rival Sons would be releasing Feral Roots, not one to give up on a band I had to give it a listen.
The opening track, “Do Your Worst” was the Rival Sons I had missed so much and by the time the album got to “Look Away”, I knew right then and there that Rival Sons were back. I’m not sure it was. Maybe it was their tour with Sabbath or maybe it was just the fact that hit their stride again but Feral Roots was already turning out to as good as Pressure and Time. The title track “Feral Roots” is without a doubt the show stopper and this song along put Rival Sons back on top of heap and back into my heart.
Maybe it’s just where I am in my life or maybe it’s just that Rival Sons were firing on all cylanders but Feral Roots is by far Rival Sons best work to date and after three back to back listens I just keep loving it more and hearing things that I didn’t hear before. Feral Roots has Rival Sons stepping it up at least three notches and not resting on their laurels. Feral Roots is a rock n’ roll masterpiece that has set the bar very high and I’m not sure anyone else will be able to touch it this year. What an amazing gift from an amazing band.
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