The beauty of the beasts!
Unleashed and uncaged after a hiatus of 9 years since the band's last studio album, 'Gone', 'Little Animals' is, for want of a better phrase, a beast of an album. Not hugely known in Blighty, this Australian hard rock band bring forth elements of simple classic rock in the vein of AC/DC which most notably fellow country men Jet have also done, but given a slight Southern Rock feel with deep whisky-soaked vocals like a modern day Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The opening song, 'I Don't Car About Nothing Anymore' may not be grammatically correct, but it's a slow plod of a song with an almost 70's stoner band feel and fuzzy guitar riffs, over strong beats. The construction of the songs is by no means complex, and the head-nodding rock of, 'I'm Gone' makes you want to grab your confederate flag and grow a beard. It's almost what you'd get if Fu Manchu covered Lynyrd Skynyrd. Fan's of, Kings Of Leon, will like, 'I Told You So' which is a song that they could easily have written and recorded.
Singer Tex Perkins, aside from having a pretty rock name, has a distinctive voice that carries the band with it's depth and husky strength, giving the songs more integrity with each rasping note. 'Master And Slave' is a slow laid back number, which carries us nicely to the even slower and more chilled out sound of the album's title track, 'Little Animals', a song whereby Tex's vocals sound a little more like Chris Cornell. Next is the faster slice of hard rock in, 'The Beast I Came To Be', before we have the straight up blues rock in the great, 'Sleepwalker', which is moody, and rocking all at the same time. Good stuff!
The haunting ballad of, 'New Day Of The Dead' comes across a little like Chris Rea singing a Doors song in the style of Soul Asylum, minus any keyboards, whilst the album finishes off with, 'Thanks' a song that has the spoken thanks of many things in the world over a little guitar riff. An obvious and fitting ending to a good solid album.
The Beasts Of Bourbon, have a style that is by no means new nor groundbreaking, but what it is, is definitely a homage to great blues influenced rock from years gone by. And although I say this as fact, I won't concede to say that this album sounds by no means dated, as it just draws on these aforementioned styles, injecting them with a contemporary flavour and a vigour that is often missing from bands that try this.
The Beasts Of Bourbon are what Jet wish they were but fail on many levels. This is good honest straight up ballsy rock'n'roll and I like it. Miss this band at your peril!