A few years have passed by now, Jack and Meg became a tabloid sideshow, and the bloom has fallen off the rose of punk-blues or garage-blues or whatever the hell you want to call it. R.L. Burnside is dead and many of those bands that once pursued rock ‘n’ roll stardom with a washed-out, carbon-copy blues-rock sound have now become ‘80s new wave revival bands. Shudder. The Immortal Lee County Killers, however, are seemingly, well…immortal…the band carrying on with a new line-up and a more mature sound on album number three. Don’t fear, erstwhile ILCK fans, because even though Cheetah and his crew have expanded their sound beyond the delightful musical trainwrecks of The Essential Fucked Up Blues and Love Is A Charm doesn’t mean that the band has lost its way. They still hit your ears like the less-desirable business end of a shotgun blast.
The Immortal Lee County Killers’ These Bones Will Rise To Love You Again
If anything, These Bones Will Rise To Love You Again is even meaner and
scarier than the ILCK’s previous two albums, the band incorporating more
elements of Southern soul and ‘60s psychedelica into the creative palette of
their lo-fi aesthetic. “Turn On the Panther,” for instance, includes
tough-as-nails sonic distortion courtesy of Weise’s over-amped guitar, Toko
the Drifter’s percussive drumming filling in with lightning-and-thunder
intensity. Jon Spencer’s “Revolution Summer” is the same sort of
blues-influenced, three-chord hard rock that won the MC5 everlasting
notoriety, the ILCK covering the song with a chaotic clashing of vocals and
instrumentation. “Boom Boom” is the sound of the music industry imploding, a
cacophonic death rattle writ larger-than-life with unrelenting percussion,
manic vocals and some of the squonkiest guitar that you’ll hear outside of
East Village jazz clubs.
“The Damned Don’t Cry” evokes the late,
great R.L. Burnside, the song’s martial rhythms and almost-chanted lyrics
creating an air of menace, its roots in the Mississippi Hill Country and its
sound straight out of Junior Kimbrough’s juke joint. Even slower, more
deliberate numbers like “Lights Down Low” evince a certain swamp water
consistency, the song a cross between a funeral dirge and a tent revival while
“No More My Lord” is a spiritual plea for relief in a Blind Willie Johnson
vein. The addition of keyboardist Jeff Goodwin was definitely a good move,
providing the band with another talented songwriter and complimenting the
material with an instrumental style that sounds like Deep Purple’s Ian
Gilliam, Jerry Lee Lewis and Booker T jamming together at the Stax studios in
Memphis.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
For all of his bluster, drummer Toko the Drifter is capable of both
tornado-force blasts and subtle, jazzy flourishes while Chet Weise is a
six-string madman throwing razor-sharp riffs like ninja death stars and
pounding out earth-scorching leads like bolts from the meaty paw of Zeus.
Weise’s understated lyrical style is short on nonsense and long on imagery,
the underrated wordsmith throwing together minimalist blues-haiku that says
what it needs to and then gets the hell outta the way of the general
instrumental din. These Bones Will Rise To Love You Again is both a
fine garage blues workout and an encouraging third album, displaying the
Immortal Lee County Killers’ evolution from a loud, badass duo with lots of
heart into a loud, baddass trio with lots of heart and soul.
These Bones Will Rise To Love You Again will kick you in the ass and
leave you asking for another boot….and folks, it just doesn’t get any better
than that! (Tee Pee Records, released 2005)
Review originally publishe by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine, 2005
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