Band: Stormbringer
Release Title: ‘MMXIII’
Release Date: 15/07/2013
‘For fans of Alter Bridge and Velvet Revolver‘, for me, will always be met with slight anxiety. Is this set to be another mediocre, uninspired ‘rock’ record? Or will ‘MMXIII‘ kick us in the teeth in the greatest way possible? Let’s find out!
Starting off proceedings, we have the title track ‘MMXIII‘, taking the form of a solely instrumental track. It isn’t mind-blowing, and the alarm bells do start to ring slightly before ‘Gazing At The Grave‘ butts in. Structured, standard but not particularly bland, it is a step in the right direction away from the unfortunately uninspiring ‘intro’ track. Solo aside, ‘Gazing At The Grave‘ is the kind of track that does just enough for an old-school rocker to nod a head to.
‘Mark Antony‘ definitely gives more than its’ predecessors, a track that is heavily blues-influenced backing the extremely Myles Kennedy styled vocals, it’s completely unoriginal but I’m pretty sure that this band aren’t making flaccid attempts at being the guys that music fans look at and think ‘oh, they’re a bit too different for me’.
The chugged, classy heaviness of ‘Save Me‘ contrasts well with the deceivingly-titled ‘Destroy‘, a track that I, for my sins, thought ‘I bet this will be a heavy old banger’, I was wrong, but it is most definitely a good track. Again, the guitar solo has a lot to answer for, though. I don’t think Slash would be too impressed.
‘Grinder‘ is onomatopoeic for sure, dirty and riff-orientated, no holds barred as ‘Submerged‘ comes in, embodying a slightly more oddball style without stepping away from the Stormbringer sound whatsoever, make of it what you will.
It’s always good to hear a band that can play something as heavy as ‘Darker Days‘ without feeling the need to grunt and detune something rotten, a trait displayed by many bands emerging at the moment. Disclaimer: Just because you drop to A, does not make you a heavy band, kids! Anyway, back to the record…
Concluding piece ‘Welcome To Hell‘ is almost tentative and at times feels as though it could have ‘ended there’ yet insists to continue, that said, it’s well constructed and performed, as is every track on the record and it would be unfair to say that the entire play is drab and outlived but there are definitely specific parts that could be improved upon.
All in all, it’s not a bad rock record, give it a download and see for yourself.
6/10
Reviewer: Luke E Davis
