So when Sheffield’s Bluehearts & The Broken Souls got in contact and described themselves as a heavy blues rock band I had this idea of what I would hear in my head. What I actually heard in the first track I listened to wasn’t really at all what I had expected. So yes while the basic structure of heavy blues rock was there, there was also something else. Something else I couldn’t put a finger on until it came to me in a flash. It’s in the heavy on the bass rumble, the bass grunge, the grind. It reminded me just the tiniest bit of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The track that grabbed my attention was the title track of the EP ‘Broken Woman’. This is grinding stuff, it’s sludge slow. It’s blues rock as played by Samothrace. And then suddenly it explodes If you’re expecting guitar pyrotechnics there isn’t at least until the end. But strangely it’s all the more effective for that, the weight of this thing, you feel it pushing you down.
‘Another Life’ is all slide-y, it’s swampy as fuck. The drums pummel away. And it slows down not up, I like that a lot, a whole lot. And then it changes again and again. You just never know what’s coming next.
‘You’re My Saviour’ sounds a little like early Whitesnake or possibly even Bad Company, it’s more traditionally blues rock. But there’s something about it I just can’t exactly put my finger on that makes me like this a whole lot. It might be the rather fine stuttering guitar breaks, it may be the vocals.
We back with way heavy for ‘Give Me A Sign’. It’s way way slow at the start, there’s some fine fine vocals. Stuff to like a lot – the rather fine guitar on this track, the drumming, that locked in groove.
While Bluehearts & The Broken Souls’ music may have all those heavy blues rock boxes ticked – screaming vocals, riffs to die for, guitar pyrotechnics – they bring something that is very much their own to the genre. This isn’t blues rock for the fainthearted, it’s grinding, swampy and way way way heavy, with barely a let-up. It’s blues rock for the brave.
The info
The band are:
Clarke – Vocals
Remi – Guitar
Brendan – Drums
Cundy – Bass
https://www.facebook.com/blueheartsuk/
Catch the band live
The Hot Soles w/ Bluehearts & The Broken Souls
The Washington, Sheffield
Friday 22nd June 8pm
FREE ENTRY
