WHITE BONE RATTLE – ALBUM REVIEW


White Bone Rattle - Creature Of Curiosity

White Bone Rattle – Creature of Curiosity

Release Date: 26th November

Siblings in bands are not always a good idea are they? There is a spark that can sometimes be good for the creative process but, more often than not, there is a destructive nature that comes with members of the same family making music together (man, that’s sounds so wrong). White Bone Rattle are a Maidstone quartet made up of two pairs of brothers so this album should, by rights, be either a creative masterpiece or the sound of music imploding. Album opener, ‘Eyes of the Island’ is a promising start with a gyrating bass line driving the tune along under a hypnotic riff but it’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff. ‘Milk’ is somewhere between Deep Purple and the less novelty moments of Slade and shows off singer David Hayfield’s drawling, rasping vocal. However, it’s on the single ‘Miss Mist’ that this album really kicks in to life as the relentless fuzz guitars and pulsing bass create an addictive groove reminiscent of the Black Keys and suddenly that creative spark is clear for all to see.

Album title track, ‘Creature of Curiosity’, is pure Sabbath with droning vocals over the top of guitars and bass playing the same circular hook and ‘The River Will Rise’ is a psychedelic groove that has a beautifully timeless quality and deserves to be used on the soundtrack of a 70s flashback movie. This isn't groundbreaking music stylistically but it is incredibly well put together and there is an authenticity and drive on every song that is infectious. This is a band that needs to make road movies, ride motorbikes, take mind expanding substances and then put the whole thing down on twelve inches of vinyl in nothing but mono. ‘Horse’ is the perfect example of why this band is necessary right now with bass lines that Noel Redding would be proud of, drums that keep everything moving inevitably forward and guitars so fuzzy that if you squint you’d swear they were Bigfoot. On ‘When I Return’, White Bone Rattle have created the perfect tune to soundtrack shuffling around a mansion the day after a rock’n’roll party in a hazy daze of happiness and confusion. But what’s this? The party is in full swing again on the downright dirty scuzz blues-rock of ‘Sleep Talking Fool’ which sees the Hayfield brothers harmonising to beautifully sinister effect. As the album lurches to a close, Jamie Chrisp pulls out his best Hendrix chops on ‘Taken By The Movement’ and brother Liam breaks out his shuffles across the drum kit with such a range of styles that Keith Moon may or may not be a very proud illegitimate father.

For a debut offering, ‘Creature of Curiosity’ is insanely well thought out, expertly performed and has the atmosphere befitting of an album recorded in an abandoned Victorian psychiatric hospital in London. If I had the money to spare I wouldn't have any hesitation in buying a beat up old Winnebago and some valve amps and driving it across America with White Bone Rattle in the back to play in every Whisky Bar and Steak Grill on the way. And I would take the long route.

More information:

https://www.facebook.com/whitebonerattle

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