Review RILEY’S L.A. GUNS ‘The Dark Horse’

It is not the first time, that we get two versions of one band and Riley’s L.A. Guns is one of these bands. The band released with ‘Renegades’ an album back in 2020 and returns these days with their next effort.

‘The Dark Horse’ is the title of the new Riley’s L.A. Guns longplayer which features 10 songs. The studio album is a solid hard rock release with songs like the opener ‘Overdrive’ that might not be rocket science but are well-created rock tunes. One easily finds the way into the album since songs like rocking ‘Rewind’ and the following title track show the bandwidth of hard rock. ‘The Dark Horse’ is hereby a snappy tune that doesn’t sound as dark as the title indicates. Especially chorus and bridge are equipped with a good melody that blossoms immediately.

The sleazy roots are more in the forefront with ‘Somebody Save Me’ while ‘Sweet Summer Girl (Florida)’ is the obligatory ballad. The latter is more of a standard heart-catcher that will hand over the baton to the roaring ‘The Truth’.

Riley’s L.A. Guns manage to keep the solid level on the album. The bottom half of the track listing reflects to positive impression and especially the rocking tracks are the ones that make ‘The Dark Horse’ to an energetic rock album. ‘It’s the World’ and the throbbing ‘Down Day Drag’ being the grooving highlights when surfing through the album to the end. With ‘While I’m Away’ the band ends the longplayer with a piano-supported rocker in a moderate pace; a song with a whisky-smelling bar vibe included.

‘The Dark Horse’ is worth a ride as it is a wild one. Riley’s L.A. Guns added with their sophomore album a passionate release to the books, a record the entails a cool rock’n’roll spirit which is a big step forward compared to the more average ‘Renegades’ release.