{"id":21544,"date":"2014-07-25T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21544"},"modified":"2014-09-17T23:16:10","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T23:16:10","slug":"album-review-blues-pills-blues-pills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-blues-pills-blues-pills\/","title":{"rendered":"BLUES PILLS – Blues Pills (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLUES PILLS
Blues Pills<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNuclear Blast (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Blues Pills is an American \/ Swedish \/ French rock \u2019n\u2019 roll band. In fact, one could argue that Blues Pills are the best new \u201cclassic\u201d rock band out there. While it\u2019s certainly an oxymoron to call a new band comprised of members that are only in the early 20s \u201cclassic\u201d rock, Blues Pills draw their water from the well of bands like the pre-Buckingham and Nicks Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin<\/a>, Bill Withers and Jimi Hendrix. This debut full-length follows the critically praised Devil Man<\/em> EP (2013).<\/p>\n

\u2018High Class Woman\u2019 starts things off right with a galloping bass line held down by a fluid and understated rhythm and cutting guitars. The band primarily use vocalist Elin Larsson\u2019s voice to make it wail before jamming the hell out of the chorus. It\u2019s a great, albeit very, very Janis Joplin, way to establish the fact that they are here to rock. \u2018Ain\u2019t No Change\u2019 has that same wailing factor but the underlying rhythm gives it a bit of a 70s Brooklyn dance vibe. <\/p>\n

There are a lot of really strong elements to this album in addition to its powerful beginning though. \u2018Devil Man\u2019 takes a darker turn, offering more of a groove and some serious wailing on Larsson\u2019s part. It\u2019s a bit evolved from the EP version, embracing the rock \u2019n\u2019 roll side a bit more than the blues heavy original version. \u2018Black Smoke\u2019 is another highlight, starting off with a deep respect for traditional blues before bursting into a more rollicking sound that culminates with the band nearly entering jam band territory (which they do a few times throughout the album). The band increase the intrigue with the intimate and sparse \u2018Little Sun\u2019 which has a bit of a country feel (think Lynyrd Skynyrd ballads) musically, but maintains its blues status through Larsson\u2019s vocal work.<\/p>\n

I truly enjoy this album, however, it\u2019s plagued a bit by the same thing that makes it great. It sounds like all the greats. Maybe too much like them sometimes. As much as I like to take a trip back to the greatest generation of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, that generation is long past. There are two ways to view this record as far as I\u2019m concerned. You can either give Blues Pills credit for stellar musicianship and catchy as hell songwriting, or you can call them derivative. Both are true, it\u2019s all about how much that bothers, or doesn\u2019t bother, you. <\/p>\n

When all is said and done, if you like the aforementioned bands from yesteryear or you love the new-fangled classic sounds of Rival Sons, Scorpion Child and Alabama Shakes, then Blues Pills should not be missed! <\/p>\n

Mark Fisher<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLUES PILLSBlues Pills Nuclear Blast (2014)Rating: 8.5\/10 Blues Pills is an American \/ Swedish \/ French rock \u2019n\u2019 roll band. In fact, one could argue that Blues Pills are the best new \u201cclassic\u201d rock band out there. While it\u2019s certainly an oxymoron to call a new band comprised of members that are only in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1416],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-blues-pills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21544"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21549,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21544\/revisions\/21549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}