Saturday 11 April 2020

Brass Owl - State Of Mind (Album Review)


Release date: April 10th 2020. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

State Of Mind – Tracklisting

1.Land Shark 04:39
2.Deuce Face
3.Hook, Line, and Sinker
4.No Filter/Stay Trendy
5.Side Effect
6.The Legend Of FUJIMO
7.Jive Turkey
8.Hoka Hey
9.Pale Horse

Members

Brian Tarter - vocals/guitar
Lonnie Buckley - drums

Review

State Of Mind is the new album from Brass Owl and their overall sound is quite an eclectic mix of different styles such as Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Stoner Rock, Grunge, Blues Rock along with Heavy Metal and Proto Metal sounds. They’ve been described as Heavy Classic Rock crossed with Acid Jazz according to the PR blurb that accompanied this release and I wouldn’t be lying that got me intrigued to see how this album played out.

State Of Mind is the perfect description for this album as it takes you along a trippy Psychedelic Blues/Hard Rock journey and you will have different states of mind listening to this album. Imagine the Blues Rock swagger of CLUTCH and ZZ TOP then merged with some heavy stylized 70s/80s Classic Hard Rock/Heavy Metal and you have a potent mix for a hugely entertaining album.

It’s by no means perfect but Brass Owl adapt a different identity and sound with nearly all of the songs of the album. The album is primarily powered by the band’s love of Blues Rock and the album goes into many different directions especially when the Psychedelic Jazz vibes of the album appear whilst still retaining a free-flowing and highly original heavy sound of their own making.

Standout songs on the album are: Land Shark, Deuce Face, No Filter – Stay Trendy, Side Effect and Pale Horse. As the band show their true creative power on these songs with excellent vocals and hard-hitting riffs that have a rebellious spirit to them all.

The instrumental work on this album shown by both Brian and Lonnie is outstanding throughout especially with the duo playing many different styles of music that you get a complete picture of what truly fantastic musicians they really are.

The production is very cool indeed though the more surreal Psychedelic Acid based parts do feel out of place at times but that could be the whole idea with that part of the album. Other than that minor complaint, Brass Owl are firing on all cylinders with their debut album and it’s one worth definitely checking out if you’re looking for a Stoner Rock album with a bit more craziness to it all.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Curtis at Dewar PR for the promo. State Of Mind is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from the band now.

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