Down And Outlaws – Above Snakes

Down And Outlaws are a four piece rock band from San Fransisco, they’re comprised of Peter Danzig, Kyle Luck, Chris Danzig, and Jon Carr. Above Snakes follows on from their 2014 EP, Backwards From The Dead, it was this release that set the template for the booze soaked bare knuckle rock that would eventually populate their debut album, Above Snakes, which was recorded in a frantic and hedonistic one week session at Studio 606.

The first chords of the opening track, Roll That Stone, set an ominous tone, it’s a track that carries the kind of menace that would suit the opening of a contemporary western, just before someone gets shot. From this point the majority of Above Snakes is a high octane rock album, this is a slab of dirty, dusty, down and out rock ‘n roll, it carries influences from the blues and the hard nosed end of rebel country, and it’s an album that doesn’t disappoint on any level. Whilst this a rock album, it doesn’t indulge any of the clichés of excesses that that genre often encourages, only two of the songs are over four minutes long, and those two are only just over that marker. The album builds up from the opening track until  you head towards the end of the album, when it eases off the throttle for Backwards From The Dead and Gone before you hit the final track, Every Time I Use You. This track ends the album on a smoky, dark and dusty lovelorn acoustic number that brings Above Snakes to an unexpected, yet very welcome, conclusion.

This is ten rounds of bourbon drenched rock n roll that recalls the likes of The Cult‘s classic Electric album, it is a hybrid of country, blues and, above all, rock, that ticks all the boxes for an album like this, with none of the usual drawbacks, there are no histrionic guitar solos or vocal gymnastics, you just get a authentic bourbon soaked rock ‘n roll album. Above Snakes is a term from the old west that means alive, on the basis of this album this is very much the case with Down And Outlaws.

Above Snakes was released last month and can be ordered here