THE BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS
ALBUM REVIEWS
BRIMSTONE FOR HELL:
This is not an easy album to find but if you manage it, it rewards you with some excellent Blues, country and folk.
The band supported The Mavericks on their recent tour of Scotland and reports suggest that the support act blew their highly rated headliners off stage and made a lot of friends in the process.
Listening to the album, I’m not surprised. What comes shooting out of the speakers is swaggering confidence, back up by playing of the first water. The swagger is fair because they can cut the mustard but also because they are in total control and playing the music is well within their capabilities – the only downside of this album is that there is never that edge that suggests it could all go tits-up any moment but the quality is good enough – I can live with that.
‘The Dyin’ Crapshooters Blues’ is a great, rollicking Blues with some terrific harp playing while ‘Exhibit B’ could be an Americana classic with harmonica and fiddle vying for attention in the break. ‘Never Was A Lass So Fair’ was featured in a recent compilation of Scotland’s best and it is a delightful bit of Celtic Folk.
I love the rolling country/Blues of ‘Preachin’ Blues’ with the band blasting between verses and they do a stunning version of RL Burnsides ‘Goin’ Down South’ that really captures the North Mississippi sound – all the rawness and edge you could wish for.
The band seem not to have an identity that you could pin your hat on but for all that they have made an album that is very listenable to and well worth tracking down.
Andy Snipper - Music News
BRIMSTONE FOR HELL:
One of the best things I get to experience on a regular basis is the discovery of great new music. I’m lucky, I know, but I do appreciate it. At the moment there is so much great, inventive and exciting, blues based music out there that it’s hard to keep up with what’s happening. At the moment a lot of that music is coming from Scotland and with the two excellent Jock’s Juke Joint compilations offering a great insight into the huge variety of tunes coming from north of the border I have discovered a number of great bands.
One of those bands is The Black Diamond Express, ostensibly a blues band but not afraid of adding other flavours to their music with the sound of violin and close harmony vocals giving hints of folk and a definite edginess to the music that marks out many of the greatest modern acts. They have a fresh and vibrant sound that reeks of individuality as is clear from the first moment you listen to their debut album, Brimstone For Hell.
The disc is a live recording, always a risky path to take, especially for a debut release in a world where first impressions mean s much to the success or failure of an act, but one that when it works pays off in spades. Well, this is definitely one of the latter cases, opening with a stunningly dynamic take on Every Night About This Time which sets the pulse racing with its powerful swings in volume while never dropping the intensity, it’s a great pathfinder for the rest of the album. As a whole the album swings wildly between extremes of emotion and power while never dropping that intensity, if it’s the folksier strains of Nemo Saltat Sobrinius or the spine chilling version of Otis Rush’s Double Trouble, it’s all delivered in a way that demands the listeners attention.
Sound is great throughout, it’s clear and punchy, coping well with the dynamics of a big live band in full flow and allowing listeners to explore the multilayered sound the act creates. The gig seems to have been attended by an enthusiastic audience who are obviously enjoying themselves, but who’s contribution to the atmosphere is a little too low in the mix to fully convey the atmosphere of the performance. Of course, If all I have to criticize is the level of the audience in the mix, I have nothing else to complain about, and that means that I think this is a very good disc.
The Black Diamond Express are a big deal north of the border, having been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA amongst other accolades, and with this excellent release they are sure to garner a huge amount of attention across the rest of the nation and internationally. Now would be an ideal time to get in ahead of the rush, and you couldn’t get a better start than this release.
Ian Mchugh - TONEMONKEY & ukjazzradio.com
