Blindstone – Scars to Remember (Mighty Music)
Monday, 7th August 2023
Although Danish act Blindstone has released nine previous albums and been together for over two decades, chances are high most readers are unfamiliar with this blues-based heavy power trio. That will hopefully change as Mighty Music took the three-piece under their label umbrella for this tenth studio record Scars to Remember. Vocalist/guitarist Martin Jespen Andersen also plays in the traditional metal act Meridian, international group Chalice of Sin, and doom band Anchorite – so he gets the chance to stretch into some of his older 70’s/80’s blues heavy rock influences through this outfit. Anchoring the rhythm section are bassist Jesper Vegeberg Bunk and drummer Sigurd Jøhnk-Jensen – a potent lineup ready to exhilarate listeners who love killer hooks, catchy riffs, stellar jam-like musical parts, and this overwhelming sense of respect to the masters like Deep Purple, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Mahogany Rush, and King’s X among others.
Martin wastes no time getting down to business with slow building guitar harmonies that succumb to a mid-tempo, slinky main musical component for opener “Embrace the Sky” – his distant vocal effects heightening the electric atmosphere as Bunk and Jøhnk-Jensen supply that rhythmic charm to drive the song home. These gentlemen have that innate ability to know where to stretch, lay back into a groove, and circle around with the right vocal melody or transition to cement the next hook in your brain – check out the sophisticated heavy rocker “Down for the Count” or appropriately rhythmic-oriented “Drums of War” for two sides to their multi-faceted talents. You’ll get a moving ballad with “Drifting Away”, and playful jam-like bluesy interplay during “The Fields of Bethel” instrumental that makes you feel like you are witnessing powerful musical history. Martin certainly can shred – yet on these ten tracks, he chooses to be more emotional and thoughtful in his note choices when given the spotlight, a true testament to his affinity for the genre. The purity present all the way down to specific tones and production values makes the trio valuable especially for people who’ve been yearning for new material in this throwback style without merely ‘copying/pasting’ favorite chord progressions in a recycled fashion.
Serious lyrical content reflective of the current times overcoming war and the pandemic also gives Blindstone a refreshing twist to match the energetic heavy blues rock approach present for Scars to Remember. There’s a wide contingent that loves this style, and if so – this could be your album of the year.
