Black Star Riders – Heavy Fire
Thin Lizzy veterans finally hit their stride on thunderous third album.
BLACK STAR RIDERS have not had the easiest time escaping the shadow of their past. For a band mainly comprising members of Thin Lizzy’s most recent touring line-up, it didn’t help that the music released under this new moniker proved stylistically indistinguishable from their previous incarnation’s output. To add to that pressure, 2013’s All Hell Breaks Loose and 2015’s The Killer Instinct proved to be solid outings, but not dazzling ones. The problem is addressed on Heavy Fire thanks to a simple shift in focus. The glorious, free-roaming twin-lead guitars remain, but gone are the power ballad affectations, Celtic folk twists and mid-tempo grooves. Instead, jubilant songs like When The Night Comes In unapologetically and unpretentiously distil hard rock to its elemental state. In doing this so effectively throughout, Black Star Riders have delivered a record befitting their pedigree. Watch the video for Testify Or Say Goodbye here: