Stonewire – When The Crow Flies

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Confrontational, full of attitude and aggression…

Review by Paul Davis

22.11 Records

Release date: 1 December 2014

Stonewire have been doing the rounds for a couple of years now, as well as playing their own shows, they have appeared as support to Michael Schenker and shared stages with the likes of Never The Bride, Praying Mantis and Voodoo Six. The latter’s Tony Newton must have been impressed, as he mixed this debut album, with Pete Friesen (The Almighty, Alice Cooper and, of course, Wayne’s World) adding guitar to 9 of the 11 songs. Drummer Rob Glasner produced the album and the rest of the band is Sky Hunter on vocals, Gaz Annable (guitar) and Steve Briggs (bass).

Newton and Friesen know a good thing when they see it; When The Crow Flies is impressive from the very beginning. ‘Walk The Line’ is the opening track with an intro that gives you high hopes for what’s to follow before the killer riff kicks in along with Sky Hunter’s stunning vocals. ‘Favourite Bitch’ is confrontational, full of attitude and aggression. An early contender for one of the anthems of 2015.

While the first two songs highlight the powerful vocals, there’s times on ‘Southern Honey’, the title track and ‘Don’t You’ where Sky Hunter shows a more soulful side. There’s a strong Zeppelin feel to the album, both musically and in the vocals. However, to compare to something from more recent times, if you enjoyed the S.U.N. album from last year (featuring the magnificent voice of Sass Jordan) then you’ll enjoy this too.

‘Mama They’ll Never Know’ kicks off with some slide guitar while the intro to ‘RiverBlues’ for a brief moment has you thinking of AC/DC. There’s southern rock influences too, but when you hear the heavy riffs on the epic closing track ‘Fix You’ it’s more Black Stone Cherry than Lynyrd Skynyrd.

A December release means you won’t be seeing this in those ‘albums of 2014’ lists but Stonewire have a big year ahead, including an early trip to the Midlands, supporting Skinny Molly at the Robin 2 on 28 January 2015.

Stonewire – When The Crow Flies8 out of 10

Track Listing:

  1. Walk The Line
  2. Favourite Bitch
  3. Southern Honey
  4. When The Crow Flies
  5. Don’t You
  6. Mama They’ll Never Know
  7. One Last Time
  8. RiverBlues
  9. Vamonos
  10. Winter’s Hold
  11. Fix You