As evidenced by the duos that came along after The White Stripes – there’s The Black Keys, Left Lane Cruiser, King Mud and The Bonnevilles, for starters – the appeal of the blues shows no signs of diminishing, even if the size of band line-ups are.
Ergo Indiana’s The Cold Stares. While their predecessors have rooted their respective works as much in punk rock as they have the Mississippi Delta, here singer/guitarist Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins infuse their music with a greater sense of rock classicism.
The result is a gloriously heavy album that carries as much weight sonically as it does lyrically. Heavy Shoes convinces with grinding, overdriven riffs and a rhythmic pounding designed to set the pace for the titular footwear.
Elsewhere it’s hard not to believe Tapp when he intones: ‘I can’t pay my rent, I can’t even sleep at night/A black cat won’t cross my path and my chest is getting tight’ on Hard Times, while the spectral soul groove of In The Night Time captures the chill of the midnight hour.
