8 / 10
This
isn’t a good album, it’s very good and we should really have been prepared for
it given the quality if it’s preceding singles Protection and Marked For Death
which clearly set the bar high. With hints
of Chris Isaac and occasional Country undertones, Emma Ruth Rundle proves
herself to be a fine songwriter over eight tracks which whilst disappointing in
quantity don’t fail to impress in quality.
Fear,
heartache and self-destruction are prevalent themes within an album oozing with
feeling and passion. Gritty and dirty,
it is a step up from 2014s solo debut Some Heavy Ocean and the co-production of
Sonny DiPerri is clearly one of the contributing factors which help the former
Red Sparowes, Nocturne and Marriages guitarist present raw guitar songs which
juxtapose her sweet, angelic voice particularly on tracks likes Protection
which tear and rip at rock convention whilst providing a subtle vocal angle.
It’s
not all loud gnarling guitars though as tracks like Medusa show. Sure, it rises like a once forgotten phoenix
but is also holds on to a refined and methodical twist stopping it spiralling completely
out of control. Indeed, Rundle’s voice
is quite something, it is pitch perfect and lingers for just the right amount
of time and exemplifies in equal shares of power and sensitivity.
Further
themes of suffering and wanting reverberate through the album as guitars do on
Medusa, an expanse of naked beauty which shows a further side to the versatility
of Rundle’s craft. Hand Of God too slows
the pace with a passionate blues tinged prayer based around further shame and
inner torture, and Heaven glides beautifully along for three minutes before
breaking into a wall of sound which cavalcades like a musical waterfall from an
enormous height.
Furious
Angel is far from angry and may possibly have been influenced by Rob Dougan’s
plural sounding album of the same name, but the real cruncher comes with album
closer Real Big Sky which appears in its demo form. A black, almost angry guitar with a superb
vocal performance brings an impressive album to an end. Emma Ruth Rundle may not be a household name
yet, but with songs like this in her repertoire it is surely only a matter of
time.
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