SPECIAL REVIEW
[ A WORTHY SHOWCASE OF TALENT | Shawn McLaughlin ]
BLUES COUNSEL Slow Demolition song also features some truly notable guitar soloing from Mr . Hooper . “ Wish I Knew ” pairs a basic blues chord progression with a surprisingly funky rhythm guitar riff to great effect , giving Will MacFarlane room to stretch his expansive vocal and his own fiery guitar sangin ’.
Elsewhere , the band seems to strike a bit of a more conventional roots rock vibe , choosing not to genre hop as much as on past records , although “ Drop ” has a funky R & B vibe that is infectious . Also , ballads have a larger fingerprint on Slow Demolition , as Hooper and Lane each have two between them , and Hooper pairs with everybody ’ s favorite Irish worship singer , Kathryn Scott , on the stirring , six-string laden “ Right On the Line ”. Bassist Rick Cua sings sturdily on the worshipful , heartland rock turn , “ Back To You ”, the song on this record I could see being sung most often for congregational worship .
As usual , the boys in the band , Hooper , Lane , Cua , MacFarlane , Rivera , and drummer extraordinaire and sometimes producer , Tony Morra , all come to play with their “ A ” games as muscular riffing , burning solos , and Cua ’ s nimble bottom end prove just what exceptional players these guys are . And , they have created a worthy showcase for their talents with Slow Demolition .
Back with their third album of original material ( they also put out a killer live record featuring guest , Phil Keaggy ) Blues Counsel unleashes another rootsy , blues-informed record that seems designed to share the elemental Good News of the gospel with the unsaved , even as it speaks healing into the believers life . This is a stated purpose of the band , even contained in their name , basically using Blues music to counsel or heal “ the blues ” or the effects of the sin nature in people ’ s lives .
They succeed in all counts on Slow Demolition , as , right away , Emedin Rivera ’ s expertly employed percussion touches give wings to Tom Lane ’ s Southern rock styled “ Lord , Have Mercy ”, on which Lane wails with impressive immediacy , accenting the pleading nature of the lyric . “ At the River ” features Tony Hooper on a Fabulous Thunderbirds style roadhouse blues romp that features plenty of incendiary guitar interplay between Hooper , Lane , and Will MacFarlane . “ Look Up Child ” also features the vocals of Hooper on a very Sun Studios type of rockabilly outing , featuring a message of exhortation about impending redemption . This
Nov � Dec 2016 ChristianMusician . com
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