Everyday Heroes – A Tale of Sin & Sorrow
"Highly anticipated" is a much used (and often overly used, more in promotional hype than genuine anticipation) phrase in album announcement press, but it’s certainly valid when it comes to Welsh blues rockers Everyday Heroes and their first full-length offering.
Having made quite the name for themselves with high energy live shows and their ear catching blend of contemporary meets southern heavy blues rock, the band – Luke Phillips (lead vocals/ lead guitar), Daniel Richards (rhythm guitar/ backing vocals), Jay Haines (drums/ backing vocals), Lewis Watkins (bass/ backing vocals) – slowly but assuredly built on the back of their self-titled (2016) and The Other Side of Nowhere EPs (2017) to create great anticipation for debut album A Tale of Sin & Sorrow.
Highly anticipated? Try an album that matches nay, exceeds, expectations.
But then the boys from Newport don't do things by halves.
Not only have they delivered musically (and sonically, with a big, beefy production from Andrew Francis and Phil Humphreys at the Boneyard Recording Studio in Neath) there’s a conceptually themed lyrical narrative that tells of the pilgrimage of Texas Red, a man with a sinful past looking for redemption and atonement.
Many of the lyrical themes and characters within A Tale of Sin & Sorrow have a mirror in the mythology of the Camino Pilgrimage in Northwestern Spain, which Daniel Richards undertook.
It’s Richards’ well-crafted lyrics that Luke Phillips gives big, earthy voice to.
With 'Texas Red,' which both opens proceedings and introduces the main/ recurring character, Everyday Heroes prove early doors they are not your Everyday blues rock band.
Big bad ‘Red comes musically wrapped in a huge slice of contemporary, southern blended rock with a side of gritty guitars (complementing Luke Phillips’ hefty vocal) and an anchoring bass line so thick and heavy the studio floor must have been reinforced to take its weight (it also features a deceptively hooky chorus; a recurring theme and trait of the band).
As a song (a firm fan favourite as soon as it started to feature in live sets last year) 'Texas Red' captures your attention from the get-go; as an introduction to the tales of sin & sorrow that follow, it sets the conceptual and lyrical tone perfectly.
The story continues with the heavy boogie and demon facing lyricism of 'Find My Way' before the band kick in to the contemporary metal-rock riffage of 'Standing Stones.'
Carrying similar contemporary weight but within a wilder musical ride (and some wicked lead guitar licks from Luke Phillips) is 'The Witch’s King.'
Following number, blues-metal monster 'Soul to Save,' is even more powerful as part of the wash those sins away narrative ("ain’t no river deep enough!") than it was in its ear catching, attention grabbing lead-off single guise.
The southern affected riff 'n' raunch of 'Victorious (Take My Chains)' acts as the reflective centre of both album and tale (taking stock of the past behind and path ahead) before the self-explanatory 'All Outta Faith' segues in with a similarly punchy delivery and sinfully swinging rhythm from Jay Haines and Lewis Watkins.
While the very nature of the album means things could get too musically intense, Everyday Heroes add contrasting acoustic light and harmonic shade via 'The Crow,' where further demons are faced, before the shorter and grungy 'Breathe Again' acts as the conclusion to the preceding track.
'West of Forever' romps along at a fair old boogieing pace (as Texas Red reaches, if not the end of his journey, a choice on where that journey may lead) before Everyday Heroes strike their bluesiest notes on the slower and melancholic 'Without a Throne.'
The atmospheric closing number also features a short but highly effective and fitting solo from Luke Phillips amidst the hope of atonement for the sins of the past.
At the time of A Tale of Sin & Sorrow’s release, an uncertain second half of 2020 was still in front of us, courtesy of a pandemic that spread relatively unchecked during the first half of the year.
By contrast, the one certainty of 2020 is Everyday Heroes have delivered one of the best rock albums of the year – and one of the weightiest and cleverly conceptualised releases (in isolation the lyrics stand strong as poetic stanzas) of the contemporary blues rock times.
Save your rock 'n' roll soul and grab a copy.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Having made quite the name for themselves with high energy live shows and their ear catching blend of contemporary meets southern heavy blues rock, the band – Luke Phillips (lead vocals/ lead guitar), Daniel Richards (rhythm guitar/ backing vocals), Jay Haines (drums/ backing vocals), Lewis Watkins (bass/ backing vocals) – slowly but assuredly built on the back of their self-titled (2016) and The Other Side of Nowhere EPs (2017) to create great anticipation for debut album A Tale of Sin & Sorrow.
Highly anticipated? Try an album that matches nay, exceeds, expectations.
But then the boys from Newport don't do things by halves.
Not only have they delivered musically (and sonically, with a big, beefy production from Andrew Francis and Phil Humphreys at the Boneyard Recording Studio in Neath) there’s a conceptually themed lyrical narrative that tells of the pilgrimage of Texas Red, a man with a sinful past looking for redemption and atonement.
Many of the lyrical themes and characters within A Tale of Sin & Sorrow have a mirror in the mythology of the Camino Pilgrimage in Northwestern Spain, which Daniel Richards undertook.
It’s Richards’ well-crafted lyrics that Luke Phillips gives big, earthy voice to.
With 'Texas Red,' which both opens proceedings and introduces the main/ recurring character, Everyday Heroes prove early doors they are not your Everyday blues rock band.
Big bad ‘Red comes musically wrapped in a huge slice of contemporary, southern blended rock with a side of gritty guitars (complementing Luke Phillips’ hefty vocal) and an anchoring bass line so thick and heavy the studio floor must have been reinforced to take its weight (it also features a deceptively hooky chorus; a recurring theme and trait of the band).
As a song (a firm fan favourite as soon as it started to feature in live sets last year) 'Texas Red' captures your attention from the get-go; as an introduction to the tales of sin & sorrow that follow, it sets the conceptual and lyrical tone perfectly.
The story continues with the heavy boogie and demon facing lyricism of 'Find My Way' before the band kick in to the contemporary metal-rock riffage of 'Standing Stones.'
Carrying similar contemporary weight but within a wilder musical ride (and some wicked lead guitar licks from Luke Phillips) is 'The Witch’s King.'
Following number, blues-metal monster 'Soul to Save,' is even more powerful as part of the wash those sins away narrative ("ain’t no river deep enough!") than it was in its ear catching, attention grabbing lead-off single guise.
The southern affected riff 'n' raunch of 'Victorious (Take My Chains)' acts as the reflective centre of both album and tale (taking stock of the past behind and path ahead) before the self-explanatory 'All Outta Faith' segues in with a similarly punchy delivery and sinfully swinging rhythm from Jay Haines and Lewis Watkins.
While the very nature of the album means things could get too musically intense, Everyday Heroes add contrasting acoustic light and harmonic shade via 'The Crow,' where further demons are faced, before the shorter and grungy 'Breathe Again' acts as the conclusion to the preceding track.
'West of Forever' romps along at a fair old boogieing pace (as Texas Red reaches, if not the end of his journey, a choice on where that journey may lead) before Everyday Heroes strike their bluesiest notes on the slower and melancholic 'Without a Throne.'
The atmospheric closing number also features a short but highly effective and fitting solo from Luke Phillips amidst the hope of atonement for the sins of the past.
At the time of A Tale of Sin & Sorrow’s release, an uncertain second half of 2020 was still in front of us, courtesy of a pandemic that spread relatively unchecked during the first half of the year.
By contrast, the one certainty of 2020 is Everyday Heroes have delivered one of the best rock albums of the year – and one of the weightiest and cleverly conceptualised releases (in isolation the lyrics stand strong as poetic stanzas) of the contemporary blues rock times.
Save your rock 'n' roll soul and grab a copy.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ