ROSCO’S RIOT “CRAZY & WILD” Album Review

My introduction to Rosco’s Riot came after a recommendation that I should listen to the song “Sweet Midnight”. Grabbing my attention after only a few seconds I was impatiently...

Genre: Metal:HARD ROCK
Released by: S/Release
Release date: 24th June 2016

Tracklist:
1. Done Deal
2. Crazy & Wild
3. Gypsy Eyes
4. Begging for More
5. 30 feet from Heaven
6. Girl
7. Tainted Soul
8. Lie Lie
9. Twisted Family
10. Sweet Midnight

The Band:
Tim Knox – Guitars and Vocals
James Quinn – Bass
Andy Brown – Guitar
Craig Taylor – Drums

My introduction to Rosco’s Riot came after a recommendation that I should listen to the song “Sweet Midnight”. Grabbing my attention after only a few seconds I was impatiently eager to hear the rest of the album. Hailing from my native Northern Ireland, this heavy rocking four piece totally blew me away. I summarise as follows…

Rosco Album Feature Framed

The opening track “Done Deal” commences with fast paced guitar riffs and heavy duty drumming that basically sets the pace of things to come throughout the album. Up next is “Crazy & Wild” the title track, a bit of sleazy rock that transports me back the 80’s, it features amazing guitar towards the end and the talent emblazoned here is incredible.
Getting a little deeper into this release and I hit “Begging for More”. An instantly catchy, suspenseful track which doesn’t actually feature the lyrics ‘Begging for More’ until nearly halfway in but you kinda know that this tune is working up to something…and it gets even better from thereon. This song has a predominance of drums in places with the guitar featuring in the background. Nearing the end the guitar picks up pace becoming frenzied yet still the heavy drumming does not abate. An unbelievable track that I had on repeat a few times.
Digging deeper still, I smack into “Girl” and this is the sticking point on the album for me. I know I’ve struck pure gold here and this track is hard to recover from. A beautiful melodic acoustic song stops me in my tracks. Stunning vocals and acoustic guitar, emotive lyrics and just the slightest touch of electric as I prepare to mourn the premature conclusion of this remarkable tune… and then after a 4 second cessation when you think it’s all over, it completely changes direction and turns heavy, not too heavy though… The silence is broken with the drums followed by electric guitar and raspier vocals while still retaining melody and it eventually concludes with an amazing guitar solo. Not only is this, in my opinion, the best song on the album, it is also, quite simply put, one of the best songs EVER .
Having eventually moved on from the above, next up is the hard hitting “Tainted Soul”. Commencing with wailing guitars and pounding drums, the music breaks and the singing is isolated which further exhibits the strength of vocals on offer here. Further into the track, there is just the taste of a drum solo, followed by a guitar solo. Interestingly played out, this song works to perfection and is definitely one of the highlights for me.

Rosco Article Framed

Although I would generally categorize Rosco’s Riot as a Hard Rock band, “Twisted Family” would probably be the heaviest of the 10 tracks on this release, a slightly darker edge to this tune, it features remarkable percussion and guitar from the off with an increase in intensity towards the end. Perfect head banging material.
The finisher on the album is the amazing “Sweet Midnight”. Initially my taster of what was to come, the vocals and guitars are striking, the lyrics instantly memorable and the hard working rhythm section phenomenal, it epitomizes what a great rock song is all about.
The album debuted on MP3 on 24th June 2016 with CDs due for release later this month. The talent of this band is exceptional, the song writing superb. With the deviation of the very welcome acoustic interlude, they churn out one hard rocking track after another. To hear an album of this caliber is intoxicating to say the least, as debut albums go, this ones hard to beat…

 

Reviewer: Karen Hetherington

Rating: 10/10

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