Danish band Blended Brew have an album, Hand Patrones and an EP, Laughing At Your Feet to their name and now they have added their latest opus, Shove It Down to the list. Pleasingly for me, they have stayed with their 70s influences and further developed their own identity on this fine rock album.
Opening with a great drum and bass line, the riff, hammond and harmonica follow seeing ‘Ancient Alien’ quickly assert itself as a classy heavy rock track with the gob iron adding texture across the Sabbath meets Purple structures. ‘Woman I Need You’ starts with dirty Hammond vocals and just keeps getting heavier. The starkly named ‘Give Me Your Love (Rival Cunt)’ begins as if the spirit of Jon Lord was present and develops into another riff-driven slice of quality rock with a cracking bass line throughout. (Despite the sweary title, it is safe to play… just don’t let the bairns see the screen!).
The title track ‘If The Streets’ will have you scouring the mind for the sounds like answers, but just ignore that and enjoy the unique heavy rock. ‘Run And Hide’ is also a favourite with its slide driven riffs behind yet another solid vocal performance, it has the blues in its base but is brilliant in conception… “who-haa!” indeed. The closing track, ‘Don’t Say No’ is the first slow number as the piano and vocal merge perfectly and even the cello fits into a very strong ballad. It’s an unpredictable way to the end album but, by God, it works well.
This band deserve wider recognition as they show how to play quality rock with passion and skill and, although there are plenty of nods to past giants of rock, they are still very much Blended Brew, and I love ‘em.
Shove It Down is released 1st May 2020 via Mighty Music.
