Last week a New Zealand blogger (willnotfade) tweeted me suggesting that I should listen to this solo artists’ new album ‘Now‘. To be honest, I hadn’t really heard a lot about Ash Grunwald, but I thought ‘Why not?’. So I gave it a shot. Besides the fact that the tweet contained the phrase “I think you’ll like him” I didn’t really know what to expect. He could’ve just been a typical blues solo artist trying to break in to the music industry.

However, I was not disappointed, ‘Now‘ comes as Ash Grunwalds ninth album and it is very impressive. Its everything I look out for when Im listening to a solo artist. He’s confident, he lets the guitar do most of the work, and he isn’t afraid to f*ck sh*t up. No question, I would class Grunwald as Blues Rock; which automatically puts him up against names such as Jack White, Gary Clark JR and Jeff Beck, all of whom are big names within their own right. I seriously had to think whether or not I could take Grunwald seriously and put him in the same bracket as these guys. 8 previous albums does show that he has tried to make it before and it hasn’t really come off, which is probably why he’s not quite in the “Jack White” bracket just yet.

On the other hand, what I really like about this Australian born singer, is that to me, he has the ability to conjure up songs by playing the guitar like Gary Clark JR, that hard hitting, blues roots type of rock n roll, as well as having a voice that sounds like its come from the prohibition era (which is just f*ckin cool). This combination results in an album that just goes all gun ho’ and seems like Grunwald just wants to let the world know what he’s all about.

70% of this record is very upbeat and its almost as if you could really dance to some of these tracks. “In the middle” and “River” being prime examples of this. While, the other 30% of this album is there to really accompany the fast and upbeat tracks and bring listeners back down to earth with Grunwalds almost Grunge Blues sound, which sounds very dark. In other words, I wouldn’t have been surprised if “The Worst Crimes are Legal” was used as the theme tune to Sons Of Anarchy because that track in particular carries with it a very drawn out and grunge sound with it, which just sounds evil. And it sounds class.

The album goes straight through what is the essence of true blues rock and never looks back. From the first track “River” and the final track “The Least Among Us“, he never stops incorporating his own roots of heavy blues throughout.

Listen to the whole album here:

http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/exclusive-ash-grunwalds-now-lp-streaming-in-full-ahead-of-friday-release/

Album Rating: 8.5/10

Alternatives:

  • Nick Cave 
  • Gary Clark JR
  • Jack White
  • Queens of the Stone Age 
Header Photo Credit: theaureview.com