Black Stone Cherry

On the surface, Kentucky’s Black Stone Cherry deliver on rock n’ roll clichés: “You can’t judge a book by looking at its cover,” “Hell and high water,” trains, women, cigarettes. But the band’s blend of southern rock ancestry and a knowing facility with the grunge-era discord of Alice in Chains and the metal practices thus spawned are intriguingly reconfigured here for maximum effect. It helps that singer Chris Robertson has a commanding presence and that drummer John Fred Young has his dad, Kentucky Headhunter Richard Young, at the recording console to make sure these tunes deliver at full impact. And while not everything works – guitar riffage can only take you so far – the tracks that click will draw you back in. The jagged entry of “Rain Wizard” solidifies into an anthemic chorus, while the charging rhythms of “When the Weight Comes Down” prove these young ones can swing with the vets. Hammond organ spices up “Tired of the Rain” and “Rollin’ On,” tunes that suggest the group has a future synthesizing their past and present. An encouraging debut.

Got a burning desire to hear a big, loud, slightly twangy marriage of NICKELBACK and BRAND NEW SIN? Yeah, me either. The single, "Lonely Train", has already been tapped as a WWE theme song, which oughta slot these guys right in where they belong – the token new rock band of the year for disaffected...