BLACK STONE CHERRY - review added 28th November 2008
Album Review: Folklore And Superstition (2008)
For fans of: hard rock... good old fashioned rock gone modern and trendy
Second album from the Kentucky quartet, Folklore And Superstition has helped Black Stone Cherry hit the big time. Featuring numerous great tracks, this is a real masculine rock release.
Black Stone Cherry don't ponce about, they don't do prog, they don't do pointless synthesized interludes. What they do is proper hard rock 'n' roll with a modern flavour. This is music for men who grow beards, and ladies who like men who grow beards.
Best songs? 'Soul Creek' is so anthemic it hurts. You can imagine sitting in the bar with your mates shouting this one out. It's a proper feelgood track with a chorus the size of a skyscraper. The epic 'Peace Is Free' is like an entire football stadium chanting. It sends a huge shiver down your spine. 'Ghost Of Floyd Collins' tells a story so engrossing it should get a booker prize.
You can't accuse Black Stone Cherry of absolute originality in their sound. 'Please Come In' has an obvious Led Zep twang and 'The Bitter End', whilst utterly contemporary, sounds just like the stuff Anberlin pumps out. Everybody references everyone else in the rock world though. It's so incestuous the odd reference here and there really doesn't matter.
What does matter is this is an excellent album with brilliant songs from start to finish. It gets better every time you hear it, and that's unusual with charting rock acts nowadays.
Check out... That choir sound on 'Peace Is Free'. It's huge!
Track List:
1. Blind Man
2. Please Come In
3. Reverend Wrinkle
4. Soul Creek
5. Things My Father Said
6. The Bitter End
7. Long Sleeves
8. Peace Is Free
9. Devil's Queen
10. The Key
11. You
12. Sunrise
13. Ghost of Floyd Collins
Label: Roadrunner Records
Artist's Websites: Black Stone Cherry , MySpace
