Well, at least I learned a lot about uncut diamonds and the magazine when I tried to research the rock band Uncut… other than the fact you can order it from a couple of stores in Europe, I apologise that I found no detail on this talented band, but at least their music can do the talking. The new release, called From Blue opens with ‘Blue Eyes Lover’ and an intro with a delicious Free vibe even though the vocal is a bit more Alex Harvey… regardless it builds into a strong heavy blues-rock song with neat touches throughout; the quiet guitar section is genius. The seven-minute ‘Bee Blues’ shifts to Mistreated style blues in the intro but then slows to more guitar punctuated blues phrasing and is enthralling throughout as the keys join in and expand the sound. ‘Deandra’ is modern sludgy blues that puts some of the more popular bands of that ilk to shame. ‘Snake Boogie’ sound like a continuation of the preceding track but then evolves into a distinct alt.rock style that is still blues based and has a clever guitar solo that reinforces the blues base. We then get ‘unplugged’ versions of the first two tracks: they do work well acoustically and the slide guitar and slightly toned down vocals on ‘Bee Blues Unplugged’ make it my favourite by a mile. Closing track, ‘Gold Digger Woman’ is just great… a sort of Stormbringer (the album) feel runs right through this quality track.
A strong debut (?) that is different enough to take them into the mainstream… if they get an easily found online presence it would help. I enjoyed all of the songs and look forward to a full-length effort soon.
