When Justin Hawkins announced his departure from The Darkness, did the others accept defeat and call it a day? Did they heck. As soon as The Darkness met their end Dan Hawkins and Richie Edwards got together and decided that they would form a new band, a band far greater than their previous one ever had been. They got to work, keeping on board The Darkness drummer Ed Graham and recruiting Toby MacFarlaine on bass guitar, the bass guitarist for former Blur member Graham Coxon. It was envisaged that this time round they would do things the way they wanted to do them, their would be no pop music here but instead straight up rock music. They’ve stuck to their guns and come up with an EP here that is complete with four fantastic rock anthems.
First up here is ‘Burn The Witch’, by far my favourite of all the tracks present on this EP. It is the ‘Burn The Witch’ EP after all though so I guess that it’s only right that this should be so. If you’re a fan of the likes of Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe etc. then the sound that this band produce will be right up your street. It is hard rock at it’s finest, the guitar riffs are hugely powerful and the vocals come belting through with great vigour. Stone Gods mean business here and ‘Burn The Witch’ is the finest example of hard rock music that they have to offer on this EP, don’t let this have you believe that the rest of the EP isn’t worth listening to however as this certainly isn’t true at all.
As second track ‘You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight’ starts up once more the band impress greatly. The band carry on steam rolling through here with some more hard hitting rock music, a fine display of how rock music should always sound. It’s not watered down in the slightest, Stone Gods are not gearing themselves towards the pop market here whatsoever; they are in fact steering well away from it with the sound that they are coming out with. The chorus is epic here and everything about the track comes across perfectly, I fail to find fault with this track and do in fact greatly appreciate the hard rock sound that the band have to offer here. The lyrics are perfectly put across, spat out with great venom and truly believable as they come spitting from the mouth of Richie Edwards.
‘Break Down’ is the penultimate track on this EP, an epic rock riff is set at its beginning and as the track unfolds never does it disappoint. It’s not the most powerful of tracks on this EP, but still it is greatly impressive and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Never on this release do the Stone Gods ever fail to impress, always there is plenty going on in the music with a number of factors helping to keep you entertained at all times. The vocals are never short of sensational, the drum beat always come pounding, and not once do the guitar riffs fail to make an impact. The instrumental work of this band is phenomenal, and the vocal display of excellence compliments this perfectly as Stone Gods fire their way through this EP with a great spirit and epic quality of utmost excellence.
‘Heartburn’ closes the release and offers up one final moment of glory before the band take their bow from this EP. The vocals are put across well, and the instrumental work is of great strength throughout the entirety of the track. It winds things down nicely for the end of EP, offering great closure as things are brought to an end by the band. Throughout all of this release all elements of the music come together perfectly and this closing track is no exception, it is an absolutely brilliant display of electrifying rock ‘n’ roll. You can tell that the end is in the air here, Stone Gods prove themselves to be great masters of picking the perfect closing track.
People expecting a carbon copy of The Darkness may well be sorely disappointed with what they hear here from the Stone Gods, those out there that love a bit of hard hitting rock music however should be in for a right royal treat. Stone Gods are a hugely impressive hard rock band and prove this to the world here with this EP that melds elements of heavy metal, straight up rock, and full on ballads in order to produce one of the finest four tracks I have heard in a long while. The bad news about this EP is that it sold out in physical form on the day of its release meaning that your only option to buy the ‘Burn The Witch’ EP now in CD form would be to go scouring the listings of Ebay. The goods news however is that it’s available for download and can therefore be found at all the finest download stores across the land, so should you feel so inclined as to buy this EP then get yourself over to iTunes pronto! Personally I would definitely recommend giving this EP a listen, I found it to be a hugely impressive offering of hard rock and these four tracks will therefore no doubt be played by myself for many years to come.
Label: Self Released
Release Date: 25th February 2008
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.