Black State Highway – Black State Highway CD (Cherry Red Records)
Is this really Black State Highway’s debut album? As it packs an unbelievable rockin’ punch! The five piece, multi national, Brighton based band hand it out hard. Plenty of grooves, and a dusted blues vibe tint the sounds of a true rock ‘n’ roll record, Black State Highway certainly do not sound like new comers. There are the obvious comparisons one could mention, but who in this day and age is completely original as an artist, and good music is always created from influence… isn’t it? With a clean-cut sound, and solid musicianship to accompany, the group also grab attention with the powerful vocal delivery of Latvian singer Liva Steinberga who at the tender age of 22 already demonstrates she has a hell of a set of lungs on her – think Janis Joplin or Tina Turner conceiving a musical miracle child with Robert Plant! Its solid, high-octane rock all the way here, not a hint of symphonic or watered down indie rock drivel. Some pretty tasty fretwork underlines the connotations, but at no point is blatant plagiarism present. Black State Highway are carving a place to stand all by themselves and having been able to check the band out personally as they slammed into a set at the recent HRH Festival, it’s a pleasure to say that these guys can finely reproduce live what they had managed to create in the studio. Mark Freebase