Riot Horse – Cold Hearted Woman review

 

 

 

 

 

1) Cold hearted woman 

2) Moving out of town

3) My only woman

4) Glad you came

5) Shadows of the moon

6) Damned whisky

7) Your love is gone

8) Down on your knees

9) Feel my love.

 

Formed out of the ashes of the Danish / Swedish band, ‘Sons of Tomorrow’, Nille ‘Neil’ Schuttman decided to finally put a vision he had cherished for many years into fruition.  It wasn’t until 2011 that the Nille felt he had the correct line up.  With ex-Darkane singer, Andreas Sydow and the two former members of ‘Bai Bang’, Jonas Langebro and Joacim Sandin, completing the magical symbiosis of bluesy rock, inspired by bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Black Crowes and Mountain.  

 

Their debut release, ‘This is who we are’, in 2014, cemented their ideas and from then the Riot Horse sound was born.  

 

The now-released successor, ‘Cold Hearted Woman’, is a multi-layered but delightfully uncomplicated rock album in the best of the traditional ’70s albums.  The subject matter deals largely in relationships.  The good in relationships, in songs like, ‘My only woman’ and ‘Feel my love’.  The bad in relationships, in ‘Cold Hearted Woman’ and ‘Your love is gone’. And the ugly, with ‘Damned Whisky’.  These are all very amenable songs that put the jam elements of their style more in the foreground.   The additional vocals of Yvette Eklund, give a great harmonising boost and the Hammond organ and harmonica, a touch of soul.  

 

The lead track eases you gently into the album with a great rock standard.  Cold Hearted Woman, shapes the album nicely and, the groove-laden ‘Moving out of town’ signify the intent by Andreas Sydow to fully explore his classic rock range with the passion you expect from a very capable vocalist.  ‘Damned Whisky’ should be a favourite with anyone that has had a word Uncle Jack.  Tales of drunkenness usually are recanted with, ‘What the hell happened last night?’.  This songs encapsulates everything that you’d associate with a night on the bourbon.  

 

There is no denying that these guys know exactly how to write emotive, bluesy heavy rock tunes.  There are a couple of dubious lyrics but it can sometimes be difficult to get every rhyming couplet together perfectly.  Otherwise, there is little to fault with this album, the sound is solid and groovy with slow and mid tempo tunes, laced with plenty of riffs and solos to keep any rocker happy.