Rival Sons – Lightbringer

 

 

Rival Sons – Lightbringer
Atlantic / Warner – 2023
Rock, Hard, Seventies, Blues
Rated: ****

We all knew this one was coming, because they said so when they released their other album Darkfighter, the other side of this coin, back around June. Which meant a glorious return for Rival Sons. And this new, six songs strong, release called Lightbringer will only cement that return. Over thirty minutes of more tough and ballsy Rival Sons hardrock. The release starts paradoxically enough with the track called Darkfighter, which is heavenly and blissful all almost nine minutes long. A roller coaster that takes of slowly, goes through all these maddening curves, before coming to that explosive end section. Emotional and heartfelt vocals, unsteady and honest, take you towards some of the best singing you might hear this year. And you already heard those amazing eight tracks from that earlier album sporting the amazing talent of vocalist Jay Buchanan. This takes all that up a notch. The entire composition of that one track rivals all you heard from Rival Sons before. The acoustic and electric, with the seemingly chaotic dance, flamenco and seventies blues duking it out, the transition into something more sixties oriented, the Hammond punctuating that special evolution, that change is gonna come sentiment, and the absolute intense conclusion. One of the best songs to be released this year. It is also the song that sheds light on why Rival Sons decided to release two albums, for this one shines in a different way, immediately. It casts off the shadow and doubt prevalent on that other album, it dares to state that the positive surge that you could feel underneath the tracks on the Darkfighter album, will be here from now on. And that is true for the rest of the album. If you are not convinced, just listen to that final track Mosaic, unapologetic in what they aim to achieve with this song, you can just feel the surge of energy that is behind it all. That green light slowly drawing nearer, hopes and dreams alive and fulfillment within grasp. It is all encompassing and all that Lightbringer conveys… And all we can possibly need...

(Written by JK)

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