Stone Whiskey
Rebels Of The Sun
Self-titled
Released: May 7, 2021
North Carolina hard rockers Stone Whiskey unleash a new collection of tunes collectively known as Rebels Of The Sun, their debut full-length, and the whole bundle will be seeing the light of day at the end of the week.
A barrage of big riffs and a heavy dosage of squealed vocals, balls out attitude and driven revving motorcycle engines set the scene for the newest entry to the hard rock world. Once the smoke settles, and the dust clears, Rebels Of The Sun will have emerged as one of the better re-treads in recent times.
The record kicks open the saloon doors with with a raucous energy-ball of a track named Into The Moonlight, that can be best described as the bastard child of early Guns N’ Roses and Alter Bridge. Hard hitting, straight up good ol’ timey hard rock – the sort of shit that I grew up on and never stopped jamming to. Having grown up in that era, I can tell you that while Stone Whiskey pull off the style flawlessly, they are bringing nothing at all new to the table. The opening moments of the record though, also represent the best moments of the recording. The energy isn’t matched for the remainder of the output, although there are some good tunes on display here.
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Stone Whiskey, on Rebels Of The Sun, play some fairly cookie-cutter, paint-by-numbers hard rock, and given what you’re shopping for, that’s either a deal maker or a total breaker. Lets say, for example, retreading a beaten path is an acceptable route, then Rebels Of The Sun is going to soothe your soul. Yet, if you’re dead set on something original and new, well you’ll not be finding that here. Stone Whiskey are not reinventing the wheel, not by any means, but if you can get beyond that, these nine songs are a lot of fun. A solid hard rockin’ throwback to a golden era in rock n’ roll history. Why fix something that ain’t broke!
It would hard to ignore the Welcome To The Jungle like stomp that the song Empty Eyes is built around. As if Guns N’ Roses had laid the concrete foundation on which Stone Whiskey have chosen to build their houses on. The guitars on Troublemaker too bring the guitar strutting of Slash to mind. This phenomenon is found again on Out On The City, which encroaches heavily on Van Halen’s Panama – down to the Oh yeah of David Lee Roth. In short, Rebels Of The Sun serves as an homage to some of the greatest moments in rock n’ roll history, and despite its lack of originality, it serves to resuscitate a style of music that has been largely ignored of late. And that surely can’t be a bad thing, can it? Unless you’re allergic to fun, of course.
On Feels Like Yesterday, Stone Whiskey enter into the rock ballads of yore – and come away with a track that Tesla would be proud of. This is the moment, that if concerts were still a thing, the lighters would come out, swaying gently in unison across the hall floor.
Pre-orders for Rebels Of The Sun are available from the Stone Whiskey website, on compact disc. Nothing as of yet listed for vinyl aficionados.
For Fans Of: Guns N’ Roses, The Cult, Alter Bridge
Track Listing:
01. Into the Moonlight
02. Empty Eyes
03. Rebels of the Sun
04. Out on the City
05. Troublemaker
06. Mirror
07. Feels Like Yesterday
08. Talkin’ Dirty
09. Livin’ Wild
