Review by Ritchie Birnie for MPM
Derby’s ass whooping, good time boys These Wicked Rivers not only deliver an amazing live show but their debut rang many a bell in the music community and I suspect Force of Nature will bring forth the congregation.
I discovered this band a few years ago and fell in love with the Grandma’s stage set before they even reached it but when the band whose main requirements are excellent musicianship and a beard started I was hooked.
This is bluesy, Southern heaven and for lovers of Black Stone Cherry, Skynrd and Black Crowes this band are definitely your bag.
The title track starts things off and it is a frenzy of bass, guitar and drums until singer John Hartwell gathers up all the threads and screams with all the gritty guile of an alligator with a mouthful of mud, water and dead rednecks.
This is as South as you can get from Derby and it is a superbly constructed song with its singalong parts and its almost Beatles breakdown.
“The Family” is next. Family is a bit different in the South, they introduce you to their wife and sister and there is only one woman standing there. I am not so sure how things are done in Derby but the vocals come at you like Lemmy on a bender (wasn’t that every day?) so there could be numerous women involved but it makes for one hell of a track.
“Black Gold” comes out of the traps like a thoroughbred and like the title of the song this is worthy of a few wars, no matter the price. This song swaggers, gets funky and basically just rocks the hell out.
With a title like “Testify” it is impossible for me not to think of Hayseed Dixie and smiling but this song is a serious contender for track of the album. It has crunching riffs, slide guitar and haunting vocals. This is a heavy blues number with a whole dollop of Stoner thrown in.
The distorted guitars are there to set you off kilter and the vocals to mesmerise you. A winner.
The tone is turned down on “When the War is Won” and boy is this track there to suck you in and kick around the old grey matter. The lazy guitars and slow paced vibe builds and grows and will soon be stuck in your head. The solo is stunning and when all tied together you will want to play again and again.
Time to take it up again on “The Riverboat Man” and this song is as grubby as you can get outside of a ten dollar hooker. The keys and drums make this song pop and it is as catchy as it is filthy.
Gimme some Southern yeehaw guitar and I am hooked so the box was ticked within 10 seconds on “Just to be a Man” but people this song soars.the band have seriously upped their game from the debut and that was no slacker but this song alone shows the depth of the bands songwriting ability. It is simple yet complex and it builds to an incredible solo and finale. The boys have hit a solid gold seam in this rock.
We go back to the stoner guitar on “Lord Knows” and this dose of heaviness sums up the extremes and the musical palette they have. There is an urgency to the music but a laid back feel to the singing. They come from opposite ends of the scale but somehow it is perfectly balanced.
Does anyone else have an issue when there is a song title that is the same as one you already love? I struggle with this all the time but for once on “Don’t Pray for me” I was able to set aside Little Angels number of the same name and that is in no part down to the fact that this song cannot stand in anyone or anything’s shade.
This song is sublime, the opening keys, the desperation in the vocals, the fight that bursts free from the song. I listen to this and every single song on this album and if I placed them in the 1970s we are talking multi platinum sales, arena tours and a band on the cusp of having everything. Now take that thought and place it in the fact you can go see them shortly in a venue near you for very little money and you will be amazed at what you encounter and you will ask yourself how the hell is this only a second album and why are this band not massive.
The album ends on “Lonely Road” with a beautiful acoustic and some Johnny Cash shit going on. This is deep south, this is pain from the cotton fields, this is the preacher being your only savior and this is you crying to the skies for just one break. It never fails to amaze me how a song can paint so many pictures and this song is like an old silent movie that can still make you shed a tear. That movie may have no words, it may be black and white but you focus and you feel every flicker in front of your face…that is the feeling you have as you listen to this song.
I liked These Wicked Rivers before but with “Force of Nature” I fell in love with the band. This is a masterpiece from the boys. It takes everything from Eden and intensifies it 100%, you will sing, you will rock out and you will be grabbed in the heart and it will sink right into your soul.

Pre-order new album ‘Force of Nature’ (out 1st March 2024) HERE
Album pre order link: https://tinyurl.com/ylvpx578
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