Zach Williams and the Reformation
(self-released)
The album title's instructive: this Jonesboro, Arkansas, outfit serves up a Southern rock-fueled brand of electric R&B, and in the band's intense delivery one whiffs the holy-rollin' fire and brimstone of an old-school tent revival. It's not a matter of small consequence, either; Zach Williams and the Reformation is so outrageously out of fashion as to be a genuine alternative to whatever passes as "alternative" these days.
So don't look for any traces of blip-hop, hoodie-approved indiecentricity or world-beat mashups here. Instead, you're gonna get a dose of pure, unfiltered rawk like your bellbottoms-clad mama used to sing to ya as a tyke, from the iconic likes of the Allmans, Derek & the Dominoes and Humble Pie to such latterday practitioners as the Black Crowes, Gov't Mule and the North Mississippi Allstars. Hold that last thought - NMAS guitarist Luther Dickinson sits in on album centerpiece "Angel With A Broken Wing," an epic-in-feel, waltz-time blooze featuring sinewy slide guitar in one speaker and eerie tremolo riffs in the other as Williams, possessed of a soulful, coal-black set of pipes, summons up the ghosts of Muscle Shoals while paying tribute to a fallen darlin' who still wields the power to set him free.
Elsewhere the band channels its inner Skynyrd (the Hammond B3-fueled "Can U Feel Me"), serves up some righteous, Leon Russell-styled gospel ("Take Me Home," which, like "CUFM," features lovely gal backing vox), and puts the pedal to the metal in a glorious explosion of hard-edged psychedelia ("Midnite Ride"). Throughout, there's a vibe of utter commitment on the part of Williams & Co., as if they're intent on adding an additional context to their album title: sometimes, some places, you just gotta reclaim a vintage form, damn the finger-wagging hipsters, and bring it back up and into the present. That, these guys do, in spades.
Standout Tracks: ""Take Me Home," "Angel With A Broken Wing" FRED MILLS
