Sons Of Liberty are a bunch of old-school rockers who, somewhat surprisingly, hail from Bristol in the UK but are steeped in the harder-edged Southern rock rooted in the Southern states of the USA that came to prominence in the late 70s. The quintet made their recording debut in 2018 with a brace of EPs, ‘...Shinola’ followed by ‘Aged in Oak’. 'The Detail Is In The Devil' is their third full-length release and first with new singer Russ Grimmett.

The re-emerge of Southern rock in recent years has been one of the more pleasing, if unexpected, returns of a genre to the musical limelight. For those of us who own numerous CD/LPs by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot, Molly Hatchet, and Doc Holliday, to name but four, it is very pleasing to see such acts proving influential in 2024.

Produced by Josiah J Manning (Kris Barras Band), 'The Detail Is In The Devil' is an unpretentious hard rock offering that ticks all the right boxes if you like big riffs and plenty of dual guitar interplay. 'Time To Fly' kicks things off and sees the band setting their stall out with the first of a string of infectious guitar riffs. Dig a little deeper, and a nicely escalating middle eight, with drummer Steve Byrne kicking up a double bass storm, leads into a fiery guitar solo, highlighting the Sons' ability to hone and polish an arrangement. The recent single 'Light The Fuse' brings an almost AC/DC vibe into play as the band delivers a slice of punchy hard rock, built around the rhythm section of Bryne and bassist Mark Thomas, with gusto. Although 'Light The Fuse' is a bit of an outlier on the record, it'll be a crowd-pleaser live because it's catchy as all hell.

The Sons hit pay dirt with the epic 'Turn This Tide' ticking all of my Southern rock boxes and featuring, probably, Grimmett's best vocal of the record, while 'Turtulia Time', with its infectious "Get up, get up. Welcome to the party" hook, is surely destined to open their live set. Easing back a few gears, 'Walk With You' has an easy swagger and benefits immensely from Josiah J Manning's swirling organ trading blows with the twin guitars of Fred Hale and Andy Muse. I'm a great believer in the theory that the more guitars, the better, especially in Southern rock circles. Elsewhere, the band keeps the quality quota high with some nice slide guitar and pretty impressive backing vocals adorning ' Love What You Got' while Manning's keys are again to the fore on the brooding 'Hawk Men Come', before the Sons regain their swagger with 'Libertine'.

With 'The Detail Is In The Devil', Sons of Liberty has an excellent album on their hands. I'm already sure the songs will be winners live, and you can check if this assumption is correct because the band will be hitting the road, kicking off in March and continuing throughout 2024 including a run of shows with Preacher Stone.

https://sonsoflibertyband.com/

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Feb 24, 2024

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