It doesn’t take much to sit back and let the intensity of a good headbanger take over and wash you away. Cape Town rockers BLACK PISTOL are leaning on that sentiment with their latest offering, 'Sins of the Father'. Roan (guitarist) and Jacques (bassist) are veterans of the local music scene who’ve added on vocalist Stiaan Bruwer and drummer Daniel Louw to take the Band to the next level of intense 80s inspired rock-and-roll. Drawing heavy inspiration from classic elements of hard rock is often a risky proposition, but these guys are determined to deliver the goods, regardless.

You will not find many people who relentlessly complain about how polished and close to perfect any given artist sounds; no one fails to sell music for sounding too good. That said, bands earn rabid and loyal fan-bases with a relentless dedication to authenticity no matter how “packaged” they may sound or how raw and unpolished they may be.

With that said the question remains just how raw is “too raw”? BLACK PISTOL opens Sins of the Father with Nowhere to Run and with it asks, “how about this?” The track is tight, raw, nasty, opens with a drum pattern that sounds like it has been strangled half to death with the first compressor the band could find in Jo Ellis’s Blue Room Studios. Just like that the album signals just how down and dirty it’s willing to get.

Everything in each and every track is unabashedly in your face and throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the feel and aggression BLACK PISTOL revels in. Lead single and album closer 'Preacher' exemplifies and embodies the “don’t give a damn” attitude BLACK PISTOL approaches. Aside from some lyrics about Jesus (that would surely make American TV personality Megyn Kelly angry), the track is a pure adrenaline rush. It is an angry and aggressive social commentary put to music in the only way that makes sense.

By far the crown jewels of this record are the vocals. Stiaan Bruwer brings a convincing performance on every track, whether it is the snarl in Down the Hatch or the reserved contemplative crooning in Heaven and Hell, Stiaan proves he can change gears effortlessly and maintain energy when it is called for. All around the musicality is solid and is tailor-made for a good time at any concert or festival setting.

At times the lyrics may fall into the “too on-the-nose”, some tracks recycle riffs from others, the drums can feel like they’re too claustrophobic, but these are small blemishes on what is overall a decent listen. The album is due out on the 12th July 2019.

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