For most of their career, Rival Sons have carried an awkward burden. They were repeatedly presented as one of the bands destined to rescue traditional rock and roll, a useful marketing line that also left them perpetually being measured against an expected breakthrough that never quite arrived. By the time of Feral Roots, somebody else could have that job. Rival Sons sound considerably better without it.
I had, in fact, cooled on the band after seeing them open for Guns N' Roses in Bordeaux the previous summer. Playing in daylight on an enormous stadium stage, they seemed strangely lost and unfocused. It was an uncharacteristic performance from a group that had accumulated plenty of goodwill through years of touring, whether headlining rooms of their own or opening for Black Sabbath. Feral Roots is a useful reminder of why that goodwill existed in the first place.
The difference is not that Rival Sons have abandoned the classic rock language that has always defined them. The blues is still there, along with heavy seventies riffs, psychedelia, soul and the sort of vocal grandeur that invites comparisons with an earlier generation of rock singers. What has changed is the way those elements fit together. On earlier records, it was sometimes possible to hear the individual influences before hearing the song. Here, the songs come first.
"Do Your Worst" makes the case immediately. Scott Holiday's guitar carries plenty of dirt and weight, but the center of the song is Jay Buchanan's vocal and a chorus built for a much larger room than the clubs where Rival Sons spent their formative years. "Back in the Woods" is heavier and more direct, while "Too Bad" turns a blunt, satisfying riff into something darker, helped by Buchanan's increasingly haunted delivery. The band's considerable power is still present, but it is being shaped rather than merely unleashed.
Producer Dave Cobb has been working with Rival Sons for years, but Feral Roots may be the clearest expression of what makes that relationship work. The record has the physical presence expected of the band without being trapped inside a conventional blues-rock sound. Acoustic guitars, percussion, keyboards, gospel voices and psychedelic textures create space around the riffs. "Look Away" begins in a hazy acoustic atmosphere before opening into a soaring rock song; the title track uses an even broader dynamic range, moving from contemplation toward a much larger and more forceful climax.
That widening of the palette becomes essential in the album's second half. "Imperial Joy" starts from a greasy Southern-rock groove but opens into a soulful chorus with jangling guitars and gospel-inflected backing vocals. "All Directions" follows a similar arc on a grander scale, beginning as a ballad before voices and instruments accumulate around Buchanan. By the time "Shooting Stars" arrives, gospel is no longer an accent. The Nashville Urban Choir becomes part of the song's architecture, pushing the album toward a conclusion that feels expansive without becoming bombastic.
This is where Buchanan becomes indispensable. Rival Sons have never lacked instrumental force, but Feral Roots depends heavily on his ability to move between swagger, vulnerability and something close to spiritual fervor. He can ride above the guitars when the band is at full volume, then pull the music inward when the arrangements become more restrained. On "End of Forever", his darker tone occasionally recalls Chris Cornell, but throughout the album his identity is increasingly his own.
The rhythm section deserves equal credit for the record's range. Michael Miley can make the heavier songs feel enormous without reducing them to blunt force, while Dave Beste's bass gives the looser material enough movement to keep it from becoming polite. "Stood by Me" has a relaxed, almost jam-like swing that would have seemed out of place beside some of the band's earlier, more tightly wound material, yet here it belongs to the same continuum as the heavier songs.
The result is a record that understands the difference between drawing from the past and being confined by it. Rival Sons have always worn their influences openly, and there is little point pretending that Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Band, Southern rock, soul and psychedelia aren't part of their musical DNA. On Feral Roots, those references have been sufficiently absorbed that they no longer dictate the shape of the music.
It also feels more complete than the records that preceded it. There are no obvious sketches waiting for a live performance to reveal their full potential, and the quieter material is not simply there to separate the rockers. The shifts in texture and intensity are part of the writing itself. Even the frantic garage-psych of "Sugar on the Bone", one of the album's rawest moments, contributes to the larger sense of a band testing how many variations it can extract from its basic vocabulary.
Feral Roots finds Rival Sons at the point where their influences, musicianship and live power finally converge with a consistently strong set of songs. Whether that translates into the commercial breakthrough people have been predicting for them is beside the point. They no longer sound like a band auditioning for the role of rock's next great hope. They sound like Rival Sons, and this is the most convincing record they had made up to that point.
GENRE: Hard Rock
RELEASE DATE: January 25, 2019
PRODUCED BY: Dave Cobb
LABEL: Low Country Sound / Atlantic Records
RATING: 7/10