Black Hill Records
Release date January 13th 2023
Line Up:
Jared James Nichols – Guitar/Vocals
Clark Singleton – Bass
Dennis Holm – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Bad Roots
2 – Down The Drain
3 – Easy Come, Easy Go
4 – Good Time Girl
5 – Hallelujah
6 – Long Way To Go
7 – My Delusion
8 – Out Of Time
9 – Saint Or Fool
10 – Shadow Dancer
11 – Skin N Bone
Unfairly lumped in with the young bluesmen like Laurence Jones, Joe Bonamassa, etc Jared James Nichols is so much more. Yeah, his music is blues based but in the same way that Cream and Mountain were. Nichols loves the blues, but he is also influenced by heavy bands like Black Label Society and that’s apparent in some of the songs.
A huge groove opens up ‘Bad Roots’ which has a vintage sound almost like Deep Purple’s ‘In Rock’ where you know the needles were well into the red zone then we get some grungy Soundgarden stuff on ‘Down The Drain’ before the urgent rabid blues of ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ which reminds me of Michigan’s own Michael Katon. ‘Good Time Girl’ could have been on any hair metal record from the mid-eighties – sleazy as hell then things get heavy on ‘Hallelujah’. ‘Long Way To Go’ and ‘My Delusion’ is both bluesy rockers then we get some tasty psych rock on ‘Out Of Time’. ‘Saint Or Fool’ starts with a short acoustic line then the power chords open it up into a heavy nasty rant before more psych on ‘Shadow Dancer’. Final number and latest single ‘Skin n Bone’ takes things into blues rock again.
This is superb stuff – a classic power trio recorded live off the floor, but it’s not just his guitar playing that is impressive Nichols also has some voice, raw and passionate plus his rhythm section of Clark Singleton and Dennis Holm lay it down and lock in driving the songs along perfectly. Another January release to add to the top of the pile.
Score: 8/10
Reviewed by: Smudge
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