VOODOO HIGHWAY
“PERVERT COUNTY” EP
Album Review By Rick Tilley
8/10
I last listened to Italian band Voodoo Highway back in 2013 when reviewing their second album ‘Showdown’. Over the preceding two years they had racked up a huge amount of positive comments from press and fellow musicians alike, with Craig Gruber, former bass player for Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Gary Moore claiming they were the new Deep Purple. I, for one, could never get my head around why everyone went so mad about them and I mentioned that more than once in my previous review. As far as I was concerned Voodoo Highway were a good Hard Rock band but without that vital spark to take them to the next level. It was almost as if one comment had opened the floodgates for everyone to follow suit without really knowing why they were saying it! Fast forward three years, some personal issues within the ranks and with a new line-up Voodoo Highway released their latest EP ‘Pervert County’ in June of this year. (Apologies on behalf of MGTV for taking so long to get round to reviewing it).
Well firstly, what an awful title this EP has got, especially as there is a photograph of a rather rotund pig in mud on the front cover. All sorts of rather disturbing images are appearing in my head as to the meaning and why the band chose this theme, but then the first track on their previous album was called ‘This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll, Wankers!’ It could be that with them being Italian something has gone awry with their command of the English language, I’ll leave that up to you to decide. Whatever is behind their choice could actually put some people off picking this up and giving it a listen and that would be a shame because whilst they may be scoring a big fat zero from me with regards to the cover and title, ‘Pervert County’ contains the three best tracks that Voodoo Highway have written!
This is Classic Hard Rock n Roll with a warmer, blusier and catchier feel than their previous material and if you want some influences then think Led Zeppelin, Tesla, Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, Steelheart and Free for starters. I don’t know why but this sounds more energised and alive than Voodoo Highway have ever sounded and had this EP been released before either of the albums then I would have understood more why they had received so many outstanding plaudits! First track ‘NY Dancer’ has a storming main riff that swings big time and vocalist Federico Di Marco has never sounded better. Next up is ‘Grace Of The Lord’, another fabulous track that wouldn’t have seemed out of place on any of the Black Country Communion albums and lastly is ‘Tears Of A Brand New Sea’ which has a feel good hard rock vibe that’s perfect for a drive along Route 66. Production is great with the bass of Filippo Cavallini cutting through beautifully and the three tracks are all perfectly formed with no extra fat (unlike the pig on the cover)!
I seem to be saying this a lot recently but the only issue is that the EP is under ten minutes and therefore too short but it certainly leaves you wanting more. As an upside if you go to the bands bandcamp page then you can download this EP for free! If Voodoo Highway can keep this sort of quality going throughout their forthcoming third album then it’s going to be a blast and I’ll be praising it along with everyone else. I do really hope though that they think very carefully about cover design. For a band that used the imagery of the legend that is Storm Thorgerson on their previous release, the cover of ‘Pervert County’ is, pretty much, an unmitigated disaster and highly ironic considering Voodoo Highway finally seem to be a band worthy of the praise they receive!
TRACKLIST
NY Dancer
Grace Of The Lord
Tears Of A Brand New Sea
https://www.facebook.com/WhoDoHighway/
https://plus.google.com/+TheVoodooHighwayIT
https://voodoohighwayhardrock.bandcamp.com/
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