Source: Album Artwork
It’s been quite some time since the world last properly heard from Blackfoot. In fact, 22 years have passed since their previous album After the Reign. But now they are back in a completely new form, under the guidance of founding member and current Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke with Southern Native.
It’s rather obvious that this new lineup of vocalist/guitarists Tim Rossi and Rick Krasowski, bassist Brian Carpenter and drummer Matt Anastasi know their craft. The drums are crisp, the guitar solos and fills and plentiful and impressive and the bass is there to ensure smooth sailing. But what also becomes quite clear is that this is a southern rock record that wants you to know it’s a southern rock record. Instrumentation aside, there are mentions of reckless driving, alcohol, women and ‘Diablo’. Sure, there is not much new ground to be broken in a genre that has been around for the best part of 70 years and reached its peak half a century ago, but some innovation would be nice.
Kicking off with ‘Need My Ride’, Blackfoot aim straight for balls-to-the-wall, hard-hitting rock and get the album off straight into foot-tapping territory. The riffs are meaty, the guitar fills are intricate and the structure of the track itself is simple and well executed. However, it does raise a question about the production value of the record, as an errant utterance of the word “need” seems to have slipped through the cracks at the end of the track.
The title track is disappointingly predictable, a simple background story involving swamps and suitcases of memories of their large family. Not even the fantastic female vocal performance at the close of the track can save this track from feeling on the whole boring and samey, especially considering its similarities to the previous song. ‘Everyman‘ offers brief respite in the form of a stripped back and more heartfelt product and places itself as an early highlight of the album. Cliched lyrics be damned, the sentiment is there and there is some palpable soul and emotion in the delivery.
Aside from the dated sounds of ‘Call of A Hero’ and ‘Take Me Home’, the rest of the album plays out in a copy and paste format. Loud start, typecast lyrics, song name repetition, ripping guitar solo, loud epic finish. Again, they are very accomplished musicians, although after a while, it becomes clear that this is not the strongest vocal performance of the year. The album finishes with the sublime instrumental track ‘Diablo Loves Guitar’, expertly mixing classical flamenco guitar with the right dosage of shrieking electric guitar, as worlds and cultures collide. The track ends abruptly, again drawing questions over the production, but it’s a great way to finish the album, albeit somewhat unexpected and sounding more like a guest spot on the album than the work of the same outfit.
It may not be the greatest return for the southern rockers out of Jacksonville, Florida, but this new lineup has a bit of work to do if they want to make a run of it. Members have been in constant rotation since the seventies, but hopefully they can settle in and hone their craft and sound and we will hear from them again soon.
