Folklore and Superstition

Black Stone Cherry\'s second album pushes the band’s Southern rock influences to the forefront, lacing their grinding, grungy songs with a down-home snarl. \"Reverend Wrinkle\" is scuffed-up boogie with a twangy edge, while lively organs add a mystical flair to the New Orleans-set rager \"Devil\'s Queen.\" Better still is \"Soulcreek,\" a rootsy rocker marked by campfire-jam gang harmonies, with vocalist Chris Robertson belting out the chorus as if he were leading a gospel choir.

For all its spirited, hard-hitting performances and wide-eyed country boy attitude, Black Stone Cherry's eponymous debut still gave off a faintly fishy smell of new millennium corporate rock, with certain icy guitar tones and aluminum-plated vocal textures sounding more like Nickelback or Shinedown than honest-to-goodness Southern rock.