Doomsday Outlaw hail from the East Midlands and South Yorkshire and have just produced, for me, one of the albums of 2016. To pigeonhole this band is very difficult but “Melodic Hard rock” gives you a vague idea.
The album opens with the chugging riff of Walk on Water, followed by the single release, Fallback, showing real intent with both power and melody.
Things change however with an acoustic track of just 51 seconds, Driftwood, seguing into a strong power ballad All That I Have which allows vocalist Phil to show what he is made of, as does the following title track Suffer More. Both tracks also include wonderful guitar work by Steve and Gavin.
As Suffer More fades we have the 51 second (is this a favourite number?) aural assault which is Pandemonium, I really think this track could happily be 4 or 5 times as long, but we are back with hard rock for the next two tracks, I’ve Been Found, a quite ‘bluesy track which has very addictive riff, and Bring Me Pain, which is a solid workout for rhythm section Indy Chanda (bass) and John “Ironfoot” Willis (drums – obviously!) This track also has a great sing-a-long chorus and a superb double guitar break, wonderful stuff.
Now come my two personal favourite tracks on the album “Blues For A Phantom Limb, (which is certainly up there as a track title of the year contender!), and Saltwater. These are both Chanda compositions and change the direction somewhat by having a Southern rock feel, harking back, a little, to an earlier Doomsday sound.
One of the things about this album, which makes it so good, is the variation, the light and shade, the tough and the gentle all mixed together but the track running order was quite obviously thought about long and hard. This shows with the next track Standing Tall, an out and out acoustic ballad (the first of two ballads along with the penultimate track on the album Running Into You.)
Following Standing Tall is Wait Until Tomorrow which would not feel out of place on a classic Whitesnake album, with the chugging riff and bluesy feel, and of course a powerhouse vocal from Phil. This track is awesome.
The album ends with two hard rock tracks Jericho Cane and Tale of a Broken Man sandwiching the afore-mentioned ballad Running Into You., leaving you with the overwhelming desire to hit the “replay” button.
In conclusion, a roller-coaster ride of an album where each change of direction comes as a thrilling surprise, leaving you breathless, elated and wanting more. A tour de’ force, and no mistake, and a very definite 10/10
Released 27th May 2016
...a roller-coaster ride of an album where each change of direction comes as a thrilling surprise, leaving you breathless, elated and wanting more. A tour de’ force, and no mistake, and a very definite 10/10
