With their sophomore album, appropriately titled II, Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster reclaim the narrative concept album from the province of prog, and drag it deep into the Florida swamps of angry Southern bar-room blues-metal.
II is written around the stories of 1920s prohibition-era gangstress Ma Barker and her four sons, who comprised the infamous Barker-Karpis Gang and carved themselves into American legend with a career of crime and violence. It’s ideal subject material for a guitar album, and Maylene And The Suns Of Disaster make it their own to great effect.
The blues-metal sound is based around worship of the electric guitar, and Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster raise the game an extra notch by having not two but three guitarists in the line up. This makes for powerful riffs soaked in gallons of rich crunchy tone and – naturally enough – some blazing solo work. If you love the sound of the pentatonic scale being explored at maximum volume with maximum feeling (and what rock fan isn’t, deep down?), II is going to flick all your switches – so get that air guitar out of the cupboard.
Frontman Dallas Taylor brings the songs and stories to life with his extraordinarily expressive voice. From a furious wild-eyed scream like a moonshine-drunkard with anger management issues to a more measured but no less powerful Southern growl, Taylor brings a swaggering bravado to Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster that is entirely fitting.
II has a good range of songwriting; from the straight-forward metal drive of “Memories Of The Grove” to the bluegrass and country-tinged swamp-stomp of “Raised By The Tide”, there’s plenty of raw rock rebellion to get your teeth into.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster are all about aggression, though. The stories are about just desserts for dirty deeds done, and while there’s power aplenty on II, there are some brilliant hooks that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Bon Jovi record; the chorus of “Dry The River” is a fine example.
At the far end of the spectrum are the acoustic arpeggios and melancholic vocals of “Tale Of the Runaways”, showing that Dallas and the guitarists alike can perform with feeling at lower volumes and velocity, and that Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster are not just a one-trick pony.
II is refreshing; it’s a Southern metal album that steps away from the normal cliches of the genre by taking on new topics for song subjects. But at the same time, Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster don’t compromise the essential punch and vibe that comes with the territory; II is the ideal album to play real loud while you finish off the whiskey and wait for the cops to arrive.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: blues, II, Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster, Southern metal
