Black Paisley – ‘Human Nature’

(Independent)

I’ve always had a soft spot for Black Paisley they always put out consistently strong albums and it really baffles me that the band aren’t more widely known and regarded highly by rock fans in general. I was really looking forward to hearing ‘Human Nature’ and I wasn’t disappointed and in fact I think this is probably their best album to date. I think some of this is down to the album feeling a bit more linear and all the songs feeling like they belong together.

Black Paisley are at their core a Classic Rock band, but they are very eclectic in their song writing and influences, thereby giving themselves a sound of their own. On ‘Human Nature’ their love of throwing hints of Country and Americana into the song writing is to the forefront, with some songs having a Country Rock feel to them and others feeling very Springsteen, especially in the vocal delivery.

All the songs are highly melodic and there is a real smoothness to the flow of many of the tracks, it still has a decent guitar groove but its smooth and melodic. There is enough power to the guitars to give the songs a hard rock punch but it’s all about those sweet smooth melodies that makes ‘Human Nature’ a hit with me. There are no duff tracks here just wall to wall infectious melody, enticing guitar grooves and catchy choruses that jump out at you and imbed themselves in your head.

The Musicianship all round is extremely impressive but I’ve always liked Stefan Blomqvist’s voice and his performance on this album is excellent! I love how he can dip from more traditional hard rock into Springsteen type Americana at will and retain a smoothness that oozes emotion. Whilst the core of the songs is inspired by retro styles of music the band display a lot of modern touches to their sound giving Black Paisley a much more contemporary vibe which definitely broadens their musical appeal.

With ‘Human Nature’ Black Paisley have once again delivered a solid slab of Melodic Hard Rock which is instantly enjoyable and truly unforgettable. Hard Rockers will love the guitar groove and melodic rockers will enjoy the smoothness but I think this album has a broad appeal to rockers in general as all these songs are insanely catchy and will have you spinning this album repeatedly.

8/10

Essential Track - 'Not Alone'

Review by Woody