Review RIVAL SONS ‘Darkfighter’

Without much ado, Rival Sons have put a new record into the record stores. ‘Darkfighter’ is the name of the latest work of the guys from Long Beach, California and it contains eight new songs.

It was blues-driven ‘Nobody Wants to Die’ which announced the new record already in October 2022 and a lot of time went by before the band unveiled the newest strike. ‘Darkfighter’ is the first out of two longplayers the band plan to release in 2023. The next record, ‘Lightbringer’ is announced for a release this year too and before we get too far ahead of things, let’s focus on what we got offered a few days ago.

‘Mirrors’ kicks off the seventh Rival Sons album and it all starts with a Hammond-driven intro that slowly builds up before a mighty riff starts the engines. Blues, rock and lot of feels is what Rival Songs offered and they didn’t change the formula. The exciting part is how the band blends the soulful moments with the heavy outbreaks. It’s the first bite of the tiger, being on the prowl on the albums artwork.

A song you should listen to is the calmer ‘Bright Light’ which wraps your soul with emotional melody lines and is a treat for your soul. The song follows the pounding ‘Birds in the Hand’ which is made for radio airplay, not only but also because of its Beatles-esque moments.

Southern rock intensity increases with ‘Guillotine’ which is a melodic and more complex musical adventure with great twists.

‘Horses Breath’ blasts with work horsepower out of the speakers and hand a baton over to the dramatic ‘Darkside’. Hereby we talk about a mighty blues rocker and a great finale of an album that showcases a band that sticks to their roots and passion. Heavy riff power and stellar vocals by Jay Buchanan are two solid pillars of Rival Sons, also carrying this longplayer.

Southern rock and blues blend perfectly on ‘Darkfighter’ and one might be already curious and excited looking forward to ‘Lightbringer’