Review by Andy Hawes for MPM
Calling all fans of modern Hard Rock and Modern Country – Cory Marks has a new album Sorry for Nothing released on 6th December and it’s a bit good! Featuring bombastic, arena-busting modern Hard Rock and influences from the more Rock-inflected end of the Modern Country spectrum, Sorry for Nothing roars in like an out of control juggernaut and doesn’t let up throughout.
Vocally, Marks is equally at home with both of these styles, able to inject just the right amount of Country ‘twang’ where required and then blowing out the speakers with a colossal blast of Hard Rock power.
Opener ‘(Make My) Country Rock’ features Sully Erna (Godsmack) and Mick Mars (Motley Crue) and is a great introduction to the Cory Marks sound, with a very typical Modern Country song structure and lyrical vibe, but with the added bonus of monumentally huge and down-tuned Hard Rock guitar riffs. It’s an infectious sound and, for me, the reason it works so well is that the Hard Rock production takes away some of the ‘generic-ness’ that plagues a lot of the Modern Country scene. This way, you get that Country vibe, but also get your senses pummelled into oblivion – what’s not to like?
The Hard Rock quotient comes screaming to the fore on ‘Guilty’ which kicks quite staggering amounts of ass with a guitar sound straight out of the Nickelback/Theory of a Deadman/Black Stone Cherry (etc) school of Rock. There are some properly nasty guitar riffs in the middle section of this one, which may cause some of the Country purists to seek out a shot or two of their favourite whiskey to calm their nerves, but to us rockers, it’s bang on what we wanna hear!
‘Whiskey For Sale’ starts off with a deliciously swampy/bluesy Country riff before yet another planet-levelling Hard Rock chorus sweeps in out of nowhere. This is the kind of thing that shows the more Rock-inflected Country artists like Brantley Gilbert and Jason Aldean how it oughta be done!
Title track ‘Sorry for Nothing’ ups the Country quotient considerably, although for some reason the vocal melody in the verse reminds me of Nickelback and the chorus is pure melodic modern Hard Rock heaven. Think ‘Photograph’ by NIckelback and you’ll be in the right kinda ballpark. It really nails that slow/mid-paced groove that Modern Country artists love so much, but just exudes 1000% more power.
They don’t come much more Country than ‘Drunk When I’m High’ which isn’t a million miles away from what you’d expect from classic Travis Tritt. There’s a real late 90s/early 2000s Country vibe to this which is just wonderful and it’s quite nice to have a break from the remorseless assault of those hitherto ever-present Rock guitars. The backing vocals on this are as Country as they come and really are utterly superb!
Acoustic guitars usher in ‘17’ which is another one where the lyric and arrangement is very Country. The guitar power chords are still there, but they are dialed back a bit on this one and it works brilliantly. Nice lyric on this one too! It’s really cool the way that Cory Marks can combine all these influences and can put this amount of variety into the album and yet still have it feel cohesive – that’s no mean feat!
Galloping ‘Edge–from-U2′ guitars lead us into another Country-Rock masterpiece in the form of ‘Fast As I Can’ which once again takes the best of both Country and Rock genres and melds them into a cracking track with a chorus hook so huge that you could hang a thousand coats from it! This would make a great single, in my opinion!
‘Tough To Be Strong’ continues the Country vibe but with just enough bite in the guitars to make you sit up and take notice. It’s got another absolutely enormous vocal hook in the chorus too. What’s interesting about this is that the production team of Kevin Churko and Kile Odell are mainly known for their work in the Hard Rock and Metal fields (Ozzy, Five Finger Death Punch, David Draiman, etc) but clearly know their Modern Country too, as they give tracks like this a quite brilliant vibe!
‘A Lot Like Me’ is full of classy Rock-inflected Country riffage, bluesy and full of slide guitars, with a smattering of banjo in a track that owes more than a little to the sound that Jason Aldean has built his career on, and that is no bad thing, although this is perhaps the most ‘generic’ track on the album so far. It is followed by the wonderful ‘1949’ which is just classic Country with storytelling lyrics, acoustic and slide/pedal steel guitars in the mix. It’s a million miles away from the Hard Rock of the earlier tracks but is quite superb and really shows the ‘true’ Country influences in Marks’ DNA. Even most of the more overtly ‘Country’ artists in the modern Nashville scene aren’t as Country as this track which reminds me of classic Travis Tritt. Quite marvelous!
‘Lit Up’ brings us storming back into the Hard Rock in bombastic and emphatic fashion, full of huge down-tuned guitar riffage and more of that Nickelback/Theory of a Deadman style melody in the choruses.
‘Late Night of Drinking Again’ has a title that screams ‘Country’, as most artists have at least one very overt drinking song per album! It also has a production that isn’t far removed from the classic stylings of prime-time Merle Haggard, with weeping steel guitar galore and perfect Country song structure. This really is ‘proper’ Country music, and Marks pulls it off with quite staggering aplomb! Utterly brilliant!
We are now treated to another version of ‘(Make My) Country Rock – Harder’ which is even bigger than the version that starts the album before a decent (but ultimately pointless) cover of Foo Fighters’ ‘Learn to Fly’ closes proceedings.
Well, this is one mighty album! It covers a lot of ground with its mish-mash of Country, Rock and Metal stylings but ultimately it does sound very cohesive and there is no denying the quality of songwriting, performance or production on it, which is top notch throughout! Sorry for Nothing deserves to be massive! It has the potential to cross over with fans of all genres jumping on board. I for one am totally sold. Great album! Make sure you get to give it a listen.
STREAM/DOWNLOAD MARKS’ SOPHOMORE ALBUM HERE
Find CORY MARKS online at:
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