There’s some good retro sounding blues rock floating around at the moment, and Pet The Preacher with their first release on Napalm Records ‘The Cave and The Sunlight’ have added an excellent contribution to this resurging genre. However, far from being a quick jumper on the band wagon, this Danish three piece have already got a couple of independently released EPs and a full length release under their belt, so they are in no way just some bunch of scene wannabes.
‘The Cave’ opens the album with a reflective gentle riff, the slow progression matching the distorted vocals, a restrained opener that contrasts to the swaggering rock of follow up track ‘Let Your Dragon Fly’, a storming combination of hard rock guitar and flailing drums, managing to successfully combine seventies rock with the stoner sensibilities of High on Fire. With ‘Kamikaze Night’ the bass line insistently pushes its way to the front of the mix, challenging the other instruments for ascendancy, and matching even the nice and sleazy slide guitar breaks. ‘Remains’ follows with some more slide work, bringing to mind the playing of Jimmy Page without being so over the top, providing a nice contrast to the slow beat of the verses which have a hint of Grand Magus from their earlier days.
With ‘Fire Baby’ there is a bluesier vibe combined with lyrics that are timeless rather then dated; who could fail to appreciate “you bring the fire baby”? The Cave and The Sunlight is composed of 11 excellently conceived and executed tracks, respectful to a bygone era without being overly derivative, and to my mind saves the best until last in album closer ‘The Web.’ With a full eight and a half minutes the band allow themselves time to explore and develop their sound, simple plucked notes building into some more of the slide guitar the band so clearly enjoys, the rhythm section slowly creeping in and letting the whole sound build with a depth that belies the band’s simple three piece structure, merging a laid back lava lamp vibe with bludgeoning chords. This is a track that could well be a future live highlight.
June this year sees Pet the Preacher supporting Acid King throughout Europe, including four UK dates. I’ll certainly be looking to clear my calender for one of those dates.
(8/10 Spenny)
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