Tricky Woo have been the undisputed kings of Canadian neo-garage
\nrock since they first tore up the indie scene in the late 1990s.
\nTheir last album saw them undertake a poorly received musical
\ndeparture that led to the breakup of the band for nearly four
\nyears, after which they re-assembled (bringing much missed
\nguitarist Adrian Popovich back into the fold) and recorded
\nFirst Blush<\/i>, their fifth and strongest studio album to
\ndate.<\/p>\n
Whereas the sound that they became popular for in the late ’90s
\ncould be described as an intense update of the Stooges crossed with
\nMountain,
\nFirst Blush<\/i> is a half-hour blast of incendiary hard rock
\nmore along the lines of ’70s proto-metal legends such as Thin Lizzy
\nand Ted Nugent, with even harder moments recalling the tough
\nmelodicism of early Scorpions.<\/p>\n
While the band does wear its influences on its polyestered
\nsleeve, the music is anything but a stale retread of the past. Like
\nany great band, Tricky Woo take the basic ingredients of the music
\nthey love and add their own personality to the mix, creating a
\nsound all their own.<\/p>\n
As expected from a batch of musicians this talented, the new
\ndisc is jam-packed with muscular Gibson-through-Marshall-stacks
\nguitar riffs that never fail to delight the ears with their
\ncatchiness. You see, like Angus and Malcolm Young, guitarists
\nAdrian Popovich and Andrew Dickson (who is also the frontman) have
\nthat rare ability to recognize and harness the power of riffs that
\nare often simple, but instantly memorable. This is a quality that
\nfew modern bands possess.<\/p>\n
Surrounding the main riffs are tons of ferociously played little
\nbluesy leads, solos and harmonies that display their considerable
\ninstrumental chops. While that was always one their trademarks, in
\nthe past they sometimes had a tendency to take the bombast a little
\ntoo far. One of the great things about
\nFirst Blush<\/i> is that they’ve slightly reigned in their
\nuncontrolled fury and delivered a more focused attack with more
\nmature, creative songwriting than ever before, particularly where
\narrangements and Dickson’s charismatic preacher vocal melodies are
\nconcerned.<\/p>\n
Folks, forget about the Strokes, the White Stripes, the Hives or
\nany of the other retro-rock revivalists that have been getting the
\nmedia spotlight for the last few years. I can honestly say without
\nexaggeration that they all sound like anemic amateurs next to likes
\nof the simply brilliant Tricky Woo. This album is a perfect example
\nof the way rock is meant to be played. Ten songs that move along at
\na no-bullshit brisk pace that will force out the air guitar within,
\nhypnotic head banging, or a lead foot on the pedal. If you’re
\nlooking for a rock album that will blow you away with its raw
\nintensity and expertly performed musicianship that recalls the
\nglory days when music dared to be bold, do not hesitate to pick up
\nFirst Blush<\/i> — as far as I’m concerned, it’s the album of
\nthe year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":27275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7236],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38635","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tricky-woo","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38635"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}